Good Memories and Nightmares
by RunningThroughDimensions
Summary: Sequel for Intelligent Boys and Girls. Five years had passed since three girls brought commotion in lives of the three boys. In the middle of the Kira case, there is no place for the past. But what if the past is not dead? Then Kira may not be the only problem they have to face.
1. Chapter 1

Good Memories and Nightmares

Chapter one.

* * *

"Near!" Rester's alert stirred white-haired boy's head to the screen, his eyes following the camera view of Halle Lidner and a well known figure of a guest he so eagerly anticipated.

"What should we do?" Rester asked, waiting for the boy's permission to shoot.

"Let them in." Clearly there was no other answer seeing a gun pointed at Halle's head and denying the entrance would be a meaningless provocation. Doors opened a moment later, Gevanni and Rester already pointing their guns at the two figures.

"Mello, welcome." Near nonchalantly greeted him.

"Drop your weapon!" The agents shouted, much to the boy's annoyance.

"Everyone..please put away your guns. Having a shoot right here would achieve nothing." Near spoke after a moment of silence, not even bothering to turn around from his moving toy train.

"Sir, with all due respect, Mello is the one who killed our partners." Gevanni said, not moving his eyes from the target.

"Please don't make me say it again. Remember that our primary objective is still to catch Kira. Killing Mello right here wouldn't do anything to benefit our investigation."

"Alright." Rester and Gevanni unwillingly lowered their guns, their trained eyes searching for anything suspicious.

"It seems things have been going just as you planned, Near." Mello lowered his gun and pulled his hood down, revealing the scarred face.

"Yes. I've take it you've already heard all about second L from Lidner by now. I've pretty much figured who Kira is and it's mostly thanks to everything you've done."

Mello gritted his teeth upon hearing Near's words, pulling out his gun once again, this time aiming it for the white-haired boy's head.

"Shut up, Near!" He yelled and the agents raised their guns right on cue.

"I'm not just a tool for you to use in order to solve your puzzles, you know!"

"Mello, if you really wanna shoot me then go ahead and do it." He answered, his face blank of any emotion, contrary to Mello and the rage that was visible on his face. His fingers began to click the trigger with small pressure as if he was debating should he put more strength and move the bullet out of the gun and into the boy's head. Before he made up his mind Lidner put herself between them, placing her hand on the silver gun.

"Stop! If you shoot him then the rest of us will have no choice but to shoot you too. What will it solve if both of you die? That's just what Kira wants." She was actually talking sense but he couldn't hide the scowl while moving the gun.

"You have a good point. Anyway, I'm only here for one thing. I came to take back that photograph you have."

"Of course." Near finally moved, pulling out the photograph and showing it to Mello. "I got it from the orphanage. There was only one and no copies have been made. I've already gone ahead and dealt with everyone who knows your face both inside and outside Wammy's House. They'll keep quiet." He threw the photo towards Mello with a precise flick of his hand.

"I can't say 100% for certain but it shouldn't be possible for you to be killed with the notebook." He kept talking while Mello observed the picture, his eyes narrowing upon turning it. _Dear Mello. _The handwriting seemed both familiar and distant in the same time and the blond started to wonder was it really Near who wrote it.

"Is this the only business you had with me, Mello?" The boy's eyes had stopped following the train and were focused in front of him, waiting for Mello's next words.

"Near." His eyes narrowed again, looking at the hunched boy in the circle. The agents could almost feel a deep hole appearing by each second of silence between the two rivals, something that went far back into the past of the two and thus couldn't be understood.

"Let's get one thing straight." Mello was the first to speak. "I have no intention of working together with you on this." He put the emphasis on 'no'.

"Yes, I know."

"At the same time, I can't just take my photo and leave, that wouldn't be right. So I'll settle my debt." That made Near look at the blond from the corner of his eye. He never thought Mello would do such a thing after all these years and that caught his attention.

"The killer notebook, it belongs to a Shinigami. Whoever touches it, is able to see a God of Death." Near let out a small gasp of surprise as the agents started their protest: "That's crazy!" and "Who the hell would believe in something like that?"

"I would. I believe him completely." Near startled them and they looked at him wondering if he has finally gone insane. "What good would it do for him to tell an outrageous lie like that? Even if he had something to gain, he could at least come up with a more believable story. Therefore, this Gods of Death must exist."

"The notebook I obtained had previously belonged to another Shinigami. Perhaps even Kira himself. Also, some of the rules written inside are actually fake." Near tilted his head, this information sounding even more helpful than the previous.

"That's all I can tell you for now." Mello slowly turned and started to walk away but Near soon stopped him with a well timed question: "Do you think it would be different if they were alive?"

The blond stopped, his eyes slightly widening as he questioned Near and his reason for even thinking about them. And what was his reason to drop that question now of all times, in the middle of this wretched case, so long after they've agreed never to bring _them _up again?

He closed his eyes for a moment, trying not to make too much of an outburst to the boy's question.

"It doesn't make any difference to hear what I think. They are dead." The tone of the words was between a threat and a warning, signalising the end of discussion about that topic.

He started to walk again, making his steps as slow as possible to show how he couldn't care less about it, even though the look on his face was slightly changed to a more reserved one..if not angry.

"Near." He stopped before the doors, feeling he won't see his rival again until the end of the case.

"Mello." Near returned the acknowledgement, the air between them becoming thick. Mello pulled out his chocolate bar and took a bite, his lips now in a smirk. "Which of us is gonna reach Kira first, I wonder."

"The race is on." Corner of Near's lips curled as he continued to wrap the lock of his white hair around his finger.

"We're both headed towards the same destination. I'll be waiting for you."

"Hah, right." The agents watched as the blond walked out of the room, his boots echoing through the empty hallway. When the doors closed they looked at the boy in the circle, wondering what is it between him and Mello and who is _them_ and why that topic caused both reserved and nostalgic faces.

However, they didn't intend to pry so they left Near to ponder about the false rules of the notebook and went back to their jobs.

* * *

**Couple of days later, or more precise, 2 days after Mello lead Mogi to SPK headquarters**

**New York**

It was Kira's brilliant plan to use Demegawa and mob of Kira supporters to make Near flee and reveal his face. However, L's massive fortune had another use than just buying toys for Near. As soon as the bills flew through the air, SPK and Kira were both forgotten. Near and his team used that to mask themselves and successfully leave the building. Not even Mello could follow them from the building nearby.

Near and his team went to their second HQ, but upon opening the door they noticed that the carefully planned security had been breached.

Lights were on, and monitors were being turned on one by one. Row of monitors showed security cameras from the entrance, now also showing Near and the agents.

A person was sitting on the chair in front of them, hidden from their view.

Agents immediately drew their weapons, taking few steps in front of Near.

"Drop your weapon and turn around slowly or we will shoot!" The person chuckled and turned around.

"Near, haven't you learned? You should never keep a girl waiting."

* * *

Okay now that the first chapter is up I have a few things I need to address.

By now all of you have a pretty good idea what will be the main topic of the sequel. For those who don't, well, wait for the next chapter.

I know I promised first chapter will be put up this year...well, school gave me a handful of problems. And then I planned to put the first chapter on Near's birthday but that prolonged too, so I missed both Mello's and Misa's birthday. In the end I kept my promise, I am putting first chapter this year. I'll just casually avoid the fact that it's the last day of the year. For those of you who already celebrated 2015., it's still 2014. here so I did keep my promise. Ha!

Let's move on. First part of the chapter is from the anime. Literally copied here. For the second half I used manga. It's interesting how many things are wrongly described in the anime, and there are lots of things that never did get into the anime. So for the plot I will be sticking to the manga since it is the best version. I can list a lot of things; Near having more emotion in the manga, Mello and Near actually teaming up, more details that are very useful to me, etc.

That being said, I am facing the biggest challenge in my life. There's no screwing around with Death Note plot, so I will have to be very, very careful. Which means a couple of things; 1. I will have problems sticking to the plot and incorporating everything that I've imagined. That means that chapters will be more complicated than usual, not just me improvising something and throwing it online for the sake of it. I just can't do that this time because this sequel means so much to me and I won't ever forgive myself if I screw it up.

**So, if I'm not satisfied with a chapter, I will not put it online. **

2\. I constructed a different approach for this kind of writing. It'll be hard to balance this and school, but I am so happy that I'm putting this up and that I'm continuing with this project. Also, chapters will be rare. As I said, if I'm not satisfied, I won't risk putting it up and then regretting it later.

But, I did limit myself. **There will be at least one chapter per month**_._ I can't promise more but I will sincerely try to put more. If I'm unable, well, one chapter will have to suffice.

I have to stop before I blab out everything. I am extremely happy about this and extremely excited. I would love to hear your feedback after you come back to your senses and actually see that I updated.

I'll need your advice about ratings too, but I'll leave that for the next chapter.

Dear followers and reviewers, I wish you a joyful New Year and we'll see each other soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2.**

* * *

**2 days after Mello lead Mogi to the SPK headquarters**

**New York**

Matt didn't quite understand what was going on between Near and Mello. First they each go separate ways, then they proclaim some sort of race, only to hide the fact that they're cooperating. As soon as he asked Mello about that he simply answered he was using Near to acquire more information.

In the end, it didn't matter to Matt. They can call that whatever they want. He was still in the background of this whole thing and he didn't intend to get involved any time soon.

But since Mello already asked for his help, keeping an eye on a couple of screens was at least he could do.

He sighed, throwing his Nintendo at the sofa opposite of him for he had no use of it with an empty battery. He spared a look at the computer in front of him and seeing all programs working smoothly, he took an opportunity to lean on the couch and not work at all. He removed his goggles and tightly shut his eyelids while pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to fight a headache that was slowly knocking on his head. He let out another deep sigh of boredom and put lower part of his hand over his eyes, faking a nap.

That seemed to go fine until the buzzing of the processors got louder, which wouldn't draw much suspicion if he was actually meddling with stable programs. He blinked a couple of times but the picture was still blurry and waves appeared on the screen, programs vibrating and moving until the screen went black.

The first urge was to check the battery but the chord was still plugged into the computer.

Then a picture appeared on the screen, showing front part of a body, obviously female, dressed in a red shirt.

Matt's brows furrowed as he continued to observe the person. She was meddling with something very close to camera before leaning back and revealing her face.

Matt quickly observed her, his initial surprise dying out as soon as he constructed a valid picture of a girl's face. And the details seemed to mess with Matt's head even more.

Her brown hair came to the end of her neck, some strands curled up and pinned down by hair clips. Then there were her light pink lips and squared glasses in a yellow frame, shining a light on her brown eyes.

The girl smiled and Matt's face lost all colour. Her lips moved but he could not hear a sound. And before she could fix that problem his fingers flew to the keyboard, making the picture disappear.

He stopped typing once he was sure the girl was gone from his screen but his fingers lingered above the keys while his mind tried to make sense of what he saw.

He took a deep breath, running her picture inside of his brain and comparing the answers.

Each and every one of them connected him to an old image of a girl in a skirt and striped shirt, holding a PSP.

Someone was messing with him. _That _girl was dead.

But something made him dial Mello's number anyway. None of this made any sense to him, and the only person who usually talked sense was Mello.

"Yeah?"

"Umm..Mello? Is it possible that Roger lied to us?"

"About what?"

"It's just..this doesn't make any sense and I'm not-" Picture on the screen vibrated and Matt's eyes widened, ending the call.

"What was that all about, Matt? I forgot to turn on my microphone, no need to ditch me like that." Girl appeared once again.

"Who the hell are you?" He cut her off.

"Umm..." She laced her fingers, her eyes now focused on the table. "Christ. I knew I'd have problems with this part. Idri made it sound like it's a piece of cake to say 'Hello, I'm back.' And Jade was all like; 'I'll be fine if he doesn't shoot me first.'"

"For a prank this is just sick. I sure hope they paid you well." Matt's fingers went back to the keyboard, but the girl spoke again.

"You recognised me. Didn't you, Matt?" He spared her a glance only to see a hopeful look in her eyes.

"No. I don't know who you are lady."

"I'm Kim."

"You're not. Stop saying that you are."

"It is me! I am Kim. You know how I know that? Because I know that you kissed me in that abandoned house five years ago." Matt froze, knowing very well that was one thing he didn't tell anyone. The only person who knew about it was the one who he kissed.

"I'm not lying to you. I'm Kim. From Wammy's House in France. Third spot. Last time you saw me was five years ago."

"Last time I heard about you you were dead." He glared at her.

"Well technically, you heard that I died, even though I didn't. I'm still alive."

"That means you've kept yourself dead for five years." And just like that her smile disappeared.

"Wasn't my decision. But I can't discuss that just yet. You'll need to wait until Jade comes back." Matt leaned back, staring at her. "You're out of your mind."

"I know." She sighed. "I need to call Jade real quick. Please don't end the call." She gave him a long look before she stood up and went out of the camera view.

Matt remained sitting and staring at her empty spot in front of the camera. Wooden table with a couple of papers and two mugs could be seen. There was a sofa behind her chair, and a TV also. Someone's sweater was thrown over the sofa and he also caught a sign of a puzzle box.

He left his spot before she came back. His headache finally settled in and he needed a quick distraction to rearrange his thoughts.

* * *

Mello's eyes were overlooking the crowd of people grabbing green bills that were falling from the sky. From this height it looked as if someone made a bunch of confetti and threw them down. There was a helicopter too and anyone could tell it shouldn't be flying this close to the skyscraper on such a low height. But, greed was more powerful than fear.

This diversion made by none other than Near, since the boy couldn't care less about the money, could mean only one thing. He had to leave the building and flee. So this muster of people had to be Kira's ploy. And Kira still underestimated them both.

Mello continued to stare down until all the money was gone and the police made sure there will be no bloodshed for the money. Helicopter was gone too and that's when he finally decided to leave the building.

He was walking to his motorcycle in the back alley when his phone rang.

"Yeah?"

"Umm..Mello? Is it possible that Roger lied to us?" His brows furrowed upon hearing the question.

"About what?"

"It's just..this doesn't make any sense and I'm not-" Matt suddenly hung up and Mello looked at the phone before shrugging it off and putting the phone away.

He reached his motorcycle parked near the corner when he heard someone singing.

"_The next time that I caught my own reflection it was on its way to meet you, thinking of excuses to postpone. You never looked like-" _Then a person appeared from around the corner and stopped abruptly.

"Oh thank goodness you're out. I was afraid I'd have to climb all the way up to reach you." A girl exhaled in relief while Mello continued to stare at her, his body stiff from shock.

There was something oddly familiar and very nostalgic about her long black hair and green eyes. His mind instantly made the connection but he refused to accept it.

Because it was atrocious. Absurd.

Kira will pay for this.

He pulled out his gun, pointing it at her head.

"Who are you?" She put her hands in the air while he glared at her.

"Woah, woah, okay, no guns please. I'll explain myself if you-" He switched the safety off and her eyes became more serious. "My name is Jade, Mello. Now put the goddamn gun down."

"You can't be her. So I'll ask again. Who are you?"

"Why? Because I don't look like her? Five years does lot to a person and you should know that, I mean look at yourself."

"How the hell do you know about Jade?"

"Because I am Jade!" She yelled and Mello's eyes narrowed.

"One last time, who are you? I will shoot if you don't answer me." He raised his voice.

"Mello, I swear to god, if you don't put that gun down right now I'll have to take it from you."

"You can't be Jade." He emphasised every word but she stubbornly kept staring at him.

"And why is that?"

"Because Jade died five years ago!"

"I did not!"

"Jade and Kim and Idri died five years ago, few weeks before L did."

"We didn't die."

"In a car accident. Penny lost control of the vehicle in the outskirts of Versailles."

"We didn't _die_." She kept repeating.

"Car burned down. No remains. Presumed dead."

"Is that how Roger told you? Presumed dead? That doesn't mean one hundred percent dead!"

"Yes it does."

"Okay, listen to me for a sec. _I _didn't die. _We_ didn't die. We're very much alive. And fine, thanks for asking. Well, how fine you can be with Kira and all this shit..What are you doing?" She asked, seeing Mello lowering his gun and turning to the motorcycle.

"Going away."

"Oh no you're not!" She came closer and he realised she'd grown taller, even though he still had a centimetre of advantage.

"We busted our asses off so we could locate you guys because you just fricking had to do all kinds of things in the last five years. So no, you're not going away just like that!"

"The person you claim to be is dead. Therefore, I don't want nothing to do with you."

"I'm Jade for fuck's sake! Do you need some kind of proof? Fine, I can give you proof!"

"It doesn't-"

"The last thing you said to me five years ago was: 'You'd be prettier without your bangs.' And look, here I am without my bangs." He stared at her, noticing all the changes in her features and comparing them to the old Jade.

He knew that was her. Her green eyes were the same.

"Maybe you are telling the truth, but I still want nothing to do with you."

"We..no, _I_ came to help you." He raised his eyebrows.

"Help me? With Kira?"

"Yes!"

"Forget it. This is between me and Near."

"What? Since when are you two the only ones who have the right to take up L's legacy?"

"Then where were you all this time?"

"Investigating Kira, just like you. But we had other business as well, like searching for you three."

"No, I meant, where were you all this time?" Her face got serious but he kept pushing her. "Why did you stay dead?"

She inhaled. "I cannot tell you that."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry." She shook her head, sincere look in her eyes but Mello paid zero attention to it.

"I can't believe you. Are you taking me up for a madman?"

"I can't answer your question, Mello. Not yet."

"Do you hear yourself?"

"I prefer not to since I know I'm not making any sense. In any case.." She took something out of her pocket, handing it to him. "Take this. We'll arrange a meeting later since I reckon you don't trust me enough to follow me behind that corner over there." He took her phone after a moment of hesitation.

"Answer my question."

"I will." She backtracked, her hands in the back pockets of her pants. Then her phone rang.

"Yeah?...Oh really? Yeah, same...No. Okay, fine." She hung up.

"Well, there's no need for a phone any more. Kim managed to surprise Matt." Mello's eyes widened slightly.

"Glad you're still alive. Anyway, see ya later Mello." She disappeared around the corner, making street silent once again. It was as if she never was here at all. Just an apparition or a hallucination.

She was just a person from his past that eventually left. A person he thought he'd forgotten about.

And just as he thought he did, she was back.

* * *

**With Near and the SPK **

"Sir, do we have your permission to shoot?" Rester asked, his gun pointed at the girl with long white hair that was sitting in a chair. Near kept staring at the girl, his body motionless.

"Now that's rude. I went quite a length to find you only to be met with guns pointed at me." Girl stood up but Rester soon stopped her. "Don't move!" He yelled and the girl pursed her lips in a distasteful manner.

"Everyone. Lower your guns." Near finally spoke and the agents paid him a look.

"But sir-"

"If you shoot her right now we won't find out how she breached our security." They unwillingly lowered their guns and the girl exhaled, tilting her head.

"Do you want me to detain her?" Rester proposed.

"No. I don't think there will be any need for that."

"Are you sure we can trust her, sir?" Gevanni asked.

"Mr. Gevanni, could you please lend me your handcuffs." Near asked and Gevanni looked at the boy before doing so.

"Thank you." Near then went closer to the girl, observing her quietly.

"Idri?" He carefully asked, in case she was just a mirage. The girl grinned, going closer to the boy. "I'm sure glad you didn't forget me yet. Though it was very-" Before she could finish Near clasped one part of the handcuff around her left wrist. The girl stopped, her eyes fixed on him. "Near? What are you doing?" And as if that wasn't enough shock for the agents, the boy clasped other part of the handcuff around his right wrist.

"Sir she could be dangerous, I advise-"

"That's very rude of you Near. First you don't wait for me and go catch Kira all by yourself and now you handcuff me?"

"It was very rude of you to die, Idri."

"If I had died you wouldn't have anyone to handcuff now would you?"

"If you hadn't died then I would have had someone to handcuff five years ago, isn't that right?" The girl kept staring at him before sighing in defeat.

"Fine, do what you have to. But at least introduce me first, since I did come here to work with you."

"Sir, who-"

"This girl here is another one of L's successors."

"Another one?" Her eyes narrowed at the boy. "I'm Near's equal. So if you consider him the true successor to the L title you have to add me in the equation too."

"Sir?" Rester asked, waiting for Near's final words but the boy kept staring at her, his gaze fixed.

"Her name is Idri. She came here to help us with the Kira case. And as she said she is my equal so I ask of you to treat her the same way you treat me." The agents relaxed a bit, still not understanding what exactly took place in front of their eyes. But they were nothing compared to Mogi, the poor guy was beyond confused.

"Gevanni, when will we be able to contact second L?" Near asked.

"As soon as I make a safe line. It will take two or three days at least."

"Good. Please make sure Mr. Mogi is comfortable before you go back to your jobs." He went to the right side of the room, pulling Idri with him and sitting down.

"It didn't play out the way I imagined it would. I guess that's understandable. So..where do you want me to start?" She asked him.

"From the beginning."

* * *

**I have a couple of questions. **

**Do you think ratings should go up? Because I can guarantee there will be cussing but for other things I really can't tell just yet. I'll leave the ratings at T for now but if any of you think it should go up just let me know.  
**

**And also, do you think I should change the suspense part? Right now this story is categorised as suspense and romance, but I'm not really sure about the suspense part. I'm thinking that action may be more fit for that now. Oh well, I'll leave it like this now unless anyone has a better idea. Maybe I really do change it later.**

**Wow, second chapter. Tell me what you think and I'll be seeing you later. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Good Memories and Nightmares**

**Chapter 3**

* * *

**Still the same day (I found the date woo; 25th of November, 2012.)**

**New York**

When Mello returned to the hideout he and Matt shared, he found the place completely coated in smoke. The source was, of course, Matt, standing by the window. His right hand was on the wall next to him and a flaming cigarette in-between his left hand fingers. Even though he was standing by the window he didn't bother opening it, and the accumulated hump of cigarette butts told Mello that Matt was really eager to speed up his cancer development.

Despite air being too thick to breathe properly, Mello leaned on the closed doors with a sigh, trying to wrap his mind around things.

Jade was alive. Idri and Kim as well. And not only that, but it seemed they are hiding the real reason for their disappearance.

That was too much to take in after making peace with them being dead. And to top it off, they wanted to work with them on the Kira Case. It wasn't completely out of the question, if they managed to track all three of them down they should have their hands on other useful information.

But how can they trust them after this stunt?

"Have you heard the news?" Matt asked all of a sudden, not turning to look at Mello.

"Dead people coming back to life?"

"Then I guess I'm not the only one who's insane here." He blew more smoke. "Kim's still online. Said they need to talk to us. I bet she's waiting for Jade to be back from meeting you." He pointed to the right side of the room.

"Did she tell you anything?"

"A couple of things. But nothing on them being alive subject."

"Why aren't they telling us?" He asked himself out loud, coming to the centre of the room.

"I don't know. It's not funny anymore."

"When was this funny?" Matt extinguished his cigarette, turning to look at Mello.

"You think they'll join us?"

"That is what Jade told me. That they came here to help us."

"And?"

"And considering Idri went to Near, they are serious about it."

"We can't let them go after Kira. This whole case is suicide. And you should know."

"And how will you stop them?" Mello raised his eyebrow. "If they managed to track us the first time they will do it again. And they won't let us go after Kira without them."

"I guess. They would just go after Kira by themselves and get killed." He sighed. "So what do you propose we do?"

"We have to hear them out first. Learn what happened. Then we'll see."

"You think they'll stop hiding the reason for their disappearance?"

"No. But maybe we figure it out." Mello went to the couch, sitting down and noticing Kim on the other end, turned to the right side of the room and eating Lucky Charms.

"Hi Kim." She looked at the monitor and her eyes widened upon seeing both Matt and Mello in front of her.

"Hi. I-uh..Jade should be here any moment but-" She set her cereal down. "How have you been?"

"Really?" Matt asked, annoyed look on his face. "Shouldn't you be the one answering that question?"

"You're ruining my Lucky Charms, Matt. What do you want me to say? We actually did die and then Jade made a deal with Satan that we can come back to mess with you."

"That makes more sense than the current situation." Kim stared at Matt when suddenly Jade skimmed behind her on chair with wheels, going out of the camera view before hitting something.

"_Silly boys, you ran away, you're unemployed, you'd waste away.._" She pulled next to Kim, holding a coffee cup.

"Oh god." Kim took her coffee. "I told you no coffee!"

"I'm sleepy goddamit, I need my coffee!"

"You turn into a madman Jade, whoever gave you caffeine was out of his mind." Kim moved the cup out of her reach while Jade leaned on her chair with a huff. "Whatever. I already drank most of it."

"Give me your Starbucks card." Kim opened her palm and Jade glared at her. "Jade."

"Fine." She pulled it out of her pocket, placing it in Kim's palm.

"I have like five other." She muttered and Kim rolled her eyes.

"What the hell was in those cigarettes?" Matt muttered to himself. "Since the whole place is full of smoke I'm not surprised we're both high right now." Mello added.

"You don't look high." Kim remarked.

"I feel like it." Matt pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Any word from Idri?" Jade asked.

"Nope."

"I hope they didn't shoot her."

"Near doesn't let them shoot anyone." Mello spoke and she looked at him with a sigh. "Then she'll call."

"Now will you answer our questions?"

"What did you tell them?" Jade spared Kim a glance.

"That you made a deal with Satan."

"Yeah, Idri scraped her knee while crawling out of hell. True story." Matt looked at Mello who had a hint of annoyance in his features.

"I take that back. We're not high, you two are." Matt pointed at them, taking his pack of cigarettes.

"Look-" Jade started but something rang on the other line and Kim shared a look with Jade before clicking something, making Idri and Near appear on the smaller screen in the corner.

"Idri?" Matt squinted, looking at the white-haired girl in the corner.

"Hi!" She grinned. "I see we're all alive and well. That's good. I'm sorry I couldn't call you earlier, connection here is horrible. Besides, we had other complications."

"Like?" Kim asked and Idri raised her hand, exposing handcuffs that tied her and Near together.

"Holy shit." Matt let go of his cigarettes while Jade burst out laughing.

"Near what the hell?" Kim asked.

"Mello, have they told you anything?" Near turned his attention to Mello.

"No. They keep pretending they haven't heard us."

"We heard you. We just can't tell you." Jade said.

"Can't tell us?" Matt asked.

"I'm sick of repeating this but you do know you died five years ago?" Mello was slowly losing his wits.

"We didn't die. That's just what you heard." Idri added.

"Then what the hell happened?"

"We were driving to Versailles when Penny lost consciousness and crashed. Jade checked Penny's pulse and since she was dead we fled the scene." Kim explained.

"Why didn't you go back to England? Or at least called? Roger could have arranged something." As Matt kept firing questions, Mello observed them, having a feeling something was off.

"It wasn't that simple." Idri begun. "We.." She trailed off before Jade spoke. "No, Idri. That was my decision." Idri exhaled, concentrating on her braid while boys stared at Jade, waiting for an explanation.

"It was my decision to do this. And I made that decision considering a number of factors. Because of it we stayed silent for this long. Now we're here to help you with the Kira case. You can be mad all you want, but put up with us until Kira is caught. Then I'll give you more details. Nothing for now." She stared at Mello who kept silent.

"You will tell us once Kira is dead?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Then we better get to work." Near looked at Idri who nodded.

"We'll stay in touch. Take care!" She waved them goodbye.

"And you two better find new hideout soon. Second L and the entire Task Force is in New York right now. And I bet they're looking for you."

"Yeah, I know. We'll take care of it." Kim nodded.

"We recently bought a house in Tokyo, in case we need to go to Japan. We should also have bigger apartment by the end of the week, if Jade found it."

"I did. Have to go sign the papers tomorrow."

"Then you can move there. Should be a lot safer."

"Wait, where did you get all that money?" Matt asked.

"Near's not the only one who's rich. We just don't throw our money out the window like he does."

"But that's L's money." Mello said.

"Nope, that's Roger's money. L's funds are locked away at the moment. No one can get to them."

"So you're using Penny's money?"

"We're not entirely dependent on it. But yeah." Kim started to type something and everyone got quiet for a minute. Kim concentrated on her typing, Matt observed Kim, and Mello continued to watch Jade spinning on her chair.

"How long will you keep being mad at us? I want to know when to ask what happened to you two. So a heads up would be nice." Jade finally broke the silence.

"It's too late for a heads up."

"Yep, gonna take a while." She said and Kim sighed. "As if you're surprised. We basically made a bet about this."

"Yeah, can I change my prize to getting my coffee back?"

"No." Jade made a face behind Kim's back.

"Here. I sent you our contacts. We're always available. Or at least, I am. Jade is often in hibernation and getting her on the phone might take some time."

"Okay, fuck you. If you won't help me I guess I'll take your black tea then." Jade smirked, going out of the camera view.

"Yeah right. You hate black tea." She waved her off. "I'll call you about the apartment. Tomorrow okay?"

"Yeah."

"Great." Then she looked up, her eyes narrowing.

"Jade? What are y-" She stood up. "Don't touch my black tea you bitch!" She ran out of the camera view while Mello and Matt kept sitting, feelings of nostalgia and confusion mixing inside of them.

"They're more...woman like." Matt said, quickly making a face. "I can't believe I just said that."

"Yeah me neither."

* * *

**On the other line**

"Do you think we fucked up?" Kim asked me as I leaned on the counter with a sigh.

"It can't be helped. Imagine the situation were reversed. We'd be beating the shit out of them." She laughed. "Yeah, we would. But I still feel really shitty about this. Knowing that I'm sad for them reacting normally to a situation like this. It's fair that they're mad at us, but I don't feel like it."

"He doesn't hate you, Kim."

"But he should. And I don't get why we have to wait to tell them what really happened. What if we all get killed during this case?" She repeatedly kept opening and closing the fridge and I didn't know how to calm her down.

"We promised to tell them once Kira is caught. That means no one must die till we do so."

"And how will we do that?" She sighed, pressing her forehead on the fridge.

"Hey, remember when it finally snowed in Wammy's and we had that ridiculous snowball fight? You and I had to play the maidens." She smiled.

"Yeah, and those two had to be protectors or some shit."

"And they made this great plan that was risky as hell, and while they were executing the plan we had to stay put to avoid being hit. But no one actually said anything about us staying put, so as soon as we found out that hole in the rules we went back and assisted them in kicking everyone's asses." She laughed. "Same rules apply to this. They are doing their risky plan and we have to find the means to help them and make the whole thing less risky. Doesn't matter if they're happy or mad about it, we still have to do it."

"But this isn't a snowball fight. That's the problem."

"Look Kim, we'll deal with it. There's literally nothing else we can do. But hey, we're good at that."

"And if they really come and live with us, how will you deal with that?"

"With what? Mello hating me?" She nodded. "Pfft, I'm used to that. Plus, we're older now. We should be...wiser...right?" I raised my eyebrow and she burst out laughing.

"Hell no. I mean, maybe they are. I can confirm that isn't true in my case."

"Okay then maybe not wiser, but we've definitely grown. That has to count for something."

"Just because you're taller doesn't mean shit."

"You're still quite short though."

"Hey!" I laughed. "I'm sorry."

"Whatever. But they've become taller."

"That's all you have to say? Wow, you should get your eyes checked." She threw a mitten at me but I kept laughing, catching the half-burned mitten.

"Oh shut up!"

"No but legit question. Have we changed as much? Because I really can't tell."

"Nope, you're still as ugly as you've been." Now I threw the mitten back at her while she laughed.

"I'm kidding!" She moved out of the way while I opened the drawer, searching for more potential projectiles.

"Well first off, your bangs are a lot shorter now so we can actually see your eyes. Idri and I nearly cried tears of joy when you did that. But she doesn't cry and I had mascara on." I rolled my eyes while she kept laughing. "And your hair got longer. Which I also like."

"It's a lot easier having short hair."

"This suits you better.

"I like what you did with the curls."

"First time I tried that. They're not temporary, but it's harder to experiment with my hair because it's still short."

"It's medium length. And I like that...thing you did." I moved my hand over my head while she kept looking at me with her brows furrowed.

"What thing?"

"You know, the thing." I snapped my fingers. "The thing they do to donuts."

"Donuts? The hell are...are you talking about glaze?"

"Oh yeaah. That's how it's called." She started to laugh. "Hair glaze Jade, it's called hair glaze."

"Yes and now your hair has that orange shade or whatever."

"Donuts. Unbelievable." She put her hand over her eyes.

"At least I didn't say gloss. That was one long powerpoint presentation."

"You had to learn the difference."

"Idri fell asleep. Do you not know how much it has to be boring for Idri to fall asleep?"

"Do you think she's fine?" She changed the topic just as I managed to relax her.

"Oh yeah. Rocking handcuffs with Near, hanging out with the FBI, shooting people. She's fine."

"Why did Near handcuff her?"

"I don't know but it's funny as hell. Near doesn't want her to disappear again." I faked a sob while she 'Awww'-ed.

"You really think this will work out? It'll be so weird with them being here." I exhaled.

"The more you keep telling me about how anxious you are the more anxious I become. So stop. It's not like you walk around naked."

"But what if I forget about that?"

"Forget that you're naked? Okaaay." I put my hands in the air, leaving the kitchen.

"Not that you idiot!" She followed me. "But like, forget that they're here and then do something stupid."

"We usually do stupid things." I sat on the couch, she following me.

"But embarrassing stupid."

"We do that too."

"Super embarrassing stupid." I gave her a look as I reached for the remote.

"Well then you're gonna die from it. Problem solved."

"How can you be so chilled about it?"

"I'm not chilled. I'm trying not to think about it and then you come and mess up my entire plan." I flipped through channels, finally settling on VH1.

"Your plan is to tell yourself everything is gonna be fine?" She sat next to me.

"That's usually my plan." She finally shut up as we watched random music videos, but after the third one she spoke again.

"I missed them. They were so weird. And we were so weird. But we had so much fun." I smiled, patting her shoulder.

"It's gonna be fine Kim. You'll see."

* * *

**I actually planned to write more for this chapter but I realised I should consult the manga again, since it can't stay the same day forever. But as soon as I browse through the manga and see if I missed anything chapter should be up. I also realised I envisioned both the house in Japan and the apartment in New York exactly the same. Gonna have to fix that also.**

**Anyway, review please! I really want to know what you think. I wanted to show how girls stayed the same, you know, bringing laughter and shenanigans into boys' lives. Of course there's a whole lot more that happened which changed them but for the time being I merely wanted to scrape the surface and show that vital part in their relationship. **

**Still having problems with the ratings, and the description. Hell, whole summary is cliche as fuck to me but I don't really have anything better at the moment. Oh and, are emails working for you? I didn't get one for the last time I updated. I don't know who's at fault, could be just me deleting things without looking. Oh well.**

**And now I should really stop typing goddamit. See ya soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Good Memories and Nightmares**

**Chapter 4.**

* * *

**26th of November, 2012.**

**New York**

"Who leaves keys under a doormat in New York?" Matt asked as he unlocked the door of the apartment girls bought.

"They must be nearby." Mello retorted, taking off his hood and looking around.

"All this is happening too soon, don't you think? Didn't Jade say she'll sign the papers today? How come they already moved in?"  
"Welcome to the real world, Matt." Matt wanted to snap back a comment but stopped as he entered the apartment.

Four big windows going down the whole length of the wall shined sun rays directly in Matt's eyes, making him pull down his goggles. As they stepped directly into the living room, two sofas with a coffee table came into their view, TV on the right side of the doors. A desk with computer equipment lined on it was in-between living room and dining room, separating round table and four set of chairs from the sofas.

"And that's why I had blinds pulled over the windows." Mello rolled his eyes, stepping away from the door. There was a closed kitchen opposite of the dining room, then a long hallway, counting five doors.

"Though it is nicer. That I must admit."

"At least now we can open up a window once it becomes suffocating."

"Ha ha." Matt walked around the place, hands on the back of his head. "It will be a drag to bring all my equipment here."

Just as he had said that, doors of the apartment swung open, revealing Kim and Jade.

"See? That's what I'm talking about. I see sun blazing through the windows and when I go outside I freeze my ass off." Kim said, unbuttoning her army green jacket, sunglasses covering her eyes.

"I keep telling ya, sun in New York doesn't mean shit if it's winter." Jade said, her leather jacket unzipped, eyes covered in sunglasses focused on small book in her right hand.

"It's not winter yet."

"Close enough."

Then Kim took off her sunglasses, noticing Mello near the kitchen doors.

"Oooh. I thought you'd be here later, but-" Her eyes soon found Matt as well. "Hi!"

"What?" Jade asked, following Kim's stare.

"Oh..yeah..hi."

"Hi." Matt said it too, almost laughing out loud, and Mello rolled his eyes.

"Khm..awkward." Jade muttered, going to the table to leave the plastic bag she was carrying.

"Did you bring your stuff with you?" Kim asked, taking off her jacket. "Jade and I already claimed rooms on the right. You have two free rooms on the left. First door on the left is the bathroom."

"No, we wanted to check the place out first." Mello answered.

"So, what do you think?"

"It's nice. But too many windows for my taste." Matt answered.

"And considering we didn't get any blinds, they ripped us off." Jade added, opening a box of donuts and taking one. "Anyone hungry?"

"Don't mind if I do." Matt sat down, followed by Kim and Mello.

"I don't think they ripped us off. It's the biggest place we've got so far."

"Took ages to find it." Jade said, putting away her book.

"What are you learning Japanese for?" Mello asked, noticing blue letters spelling 'Basic Japanese Phrases'.

"There is a big possibility we might go to Japan. So..why not be prepared?" She looked at him, but quickly moved her stare away.

"So..." Kim trailed off, her eyes meeting with Jade's. None of them had a clue what to talk about, much less how to break the tension and the awkwardness. So each of them nudged the other to talk, and if it weren't for Matt finally breaking the silence, they would have started kicking legs under the table.

"When did you move in? I thought you were just signing the papers today."

"We got up early. It was eight when Jade signed them and the guy said we can move in right away. So we did. We have a couple of things left to bring here. Mostly my equipment. There's just too many chords, I'll go nuts."

"Tell me about it."

"Plus I can't carry some things all the way from the third floor to the car. And Jade is too lazy to help me."

"I've been going up and down the entire morning!"

"Yeah yeah, poor you."

"Ask Matt to help you, he has his own equipment to carry so you could help him back. And that way you could leave me alone."

"Yeah I can help you." Matt shrugged.

"Really? That's great!" Kim grinned but immediately looked back at Jade, this time with her eyes narrowed. "And I trust you won't be leaving the apartment while I'm gone?"

"Nope."

"Aha. Good thing Mello will stay here to babysit you."

"What?"

"I don't need a babysitter!"

"Well, do you have somewhere to be?" Kim turned to Mello.

"No."

"Then you two stay here."

"You can tell her about the Kira case." Matt chimed in.

"That's actually not a bad idea." Jade nodded.

"Fine, whatever. But I won't be telling the story twice."

"As long as Jade remembers it we'll be fine."

* * *

**SPK Headquarters**

"Considering all that you've told me, you suspect second L of being Kira?" Idri asked, playing with the end of her braid and occasionally glancing at motionless Mogi sitting across the room. Right now both Lidner and Rester were trying to interrogate him, while Gevanni continued to set up the network.

"Yes. After Mello shared with me the existence of Shinigami's and two fake rules, it didn't take while to narrow it down to thirteen day rule."

"If the user of the Death Note fails to consecutively write names within 13 days of each other, then the user will die." Idri recited. "Out of all the rules in the notebook, this is the only one that could prove a person's innocence." She held her right hand in the air, following Near's movements as he assembled his robot army.

"Exactly. If the suspect who's closely monitored doesn't die after thirteen days then he or she would prove their innocence."

"Convenient, don't you think?"

"Very."

"You haven't checked with Mello?"

"No." Idri exhaled, leaning on her chair.

"I called Second L to discuss this information with him. He confirmed the existence of Shinigami's but didn't know anything about fake rules. They never bothered to check any of them. I asked for his opinion on the fake rule. He said the thirteen day rule. But then he asked the Shinigami and the Shinigami denied the existence of fake rules."

"Shinigami is with the Task Force?" Idri looked at Near.

"Mello mentioned that Shinigami haunts the notebook. They have other use for it than we do."

"There is only one use for such a notebook. I think it depends on the user."

"Then what would you do with the notebook?" She looked at the ceiling, well aware of Near staring at her.

"I would read the rules. Then I would find the thirteen day rule and give up any attempt of trying the notebook myself."  
"You would have someone else test it?" Idri looked at him.

"You think Mello tested the rule?"

"Absolutely. Even if the rule isn't fake, he would want to make sure. Mafia is a perfect place for such a scheme." Near continued to line up his toys.

"Maybe if you ask him nicely he might share the results?"

"He doesn't want to work with me on this."

"Right. Never mind." She sighed. "What else did you say to Second L?"

"I asked whether they've seen L's real face."

"And?"

"They did."

"But if Kira killed L, why would he keep them alive?"

"Because Kira is in the Task Force."

"Hmm...Or maybe Kira kept them hostage? I will kill you unless you continue with the investigation, even though it will never lead you to my arrest."

"Possible. But if Kira was in the Task Force he could have done all that without blackmailing or taking anyone hostage." She smiled. "He would be able to do all that if he was put in the position of Second L. I get it. Nice one, Near."

"Second L said that the entire Task Force thinks Kira somehow got a hold on L's personal details and used that to kill him. He said Shinigami denies the existence of fake rules."

"And?"

"I trust Mello more than I trust a Shinigami. I think that's reasonable. If I consider my assumption to be correct, that the thirteen day rule is the fake rule, then someone in the Task Force is Kira and he told Shinigami to lie."

"Bold of him to do so. You think Shinigami would have listened?"

"If we consider Shinigami's to be similar to humans in character, there must exist a Shinigami who's easily manipulated."

"Everyone will lie for a certain price. That's also in human character." Near looked at her.

"Funny of you to say that."

"Yet none of us is laughing." She sighed. "Okay, let's say Kira is in the Task Force and ordered Shinigami to lie. Then what?"

"I said that I would like to check the rule myself. I will write Mello's name in the notebook, considering they acquired it, they have to check if it's really Mello and if I die after thirteen days, Kira is the winner."

"They acquired Mello's name?"

"I believe so. He had to come here for his photograph, now that it endangers his life. He was also quite wary of security cameras."

"Yet you didn't ask him about that either."

"No."

"All this would be so much easier if you two shared information. Clues here and there don't really benefit the investigation, it makes it more time consuming than it could be."

"They declined. They refuse to kill with the notebook." Near continued, not answering Idri's questions which only made her press her lips tightly together.

"Would you really write Mello's name?"

"I doubt they would let me do so. It's important not to prove that thirteen day rule is fake."

"That didn't exactly answer my question." Idri looked at Near's toys. "Then what?"

"Mello lead Mr. Mogi here. I hoped Kira would kill Mogi just to confirm Kira is in the Task Force, but nothing happened. And since Mr. Mogi was silent we naturally turned suspicious, thinking Kira is already controlling him, with or without the notebook. Mello added he tested the thirteen day rule and it turned false, but since it was Mello who said it, I don't think anyone believed him. Two days later we were attacked, which only confirmed my suspicions. Kira is in the Japanese Task Force."

"And more so, he's the Second L. In position that can easily sabotage any real search for Kira, get rid of evidence, and use the position for Kira's benefit, not L's. Kira is smart, we know so because he managed to beat L. If he succeeded in that, acquiring his position as the Second L must have been part of his plan. It's the perfect plan, actually."

"I think so too."

"Near, it's no use, Mogi won't tell us a thing." Lidner approached them, followed by Rester.

"If he's not manipulated by Kira, it must be character."

"May I talk to him?" Agents finally acknowledged Idri's presence as she raised her hand.

"He knows I came here only recently. If I talk to him without you or Near listening in, I may be able to get something out of him." Near raised his hand, tugging on the handcuffs.

"You won't remove them even for that?" He kept quiet and Idri rolled her eyes. "Forget it then."

"It doesn't matter, just because Mr. Mogi doesn't want to talk doesn't mean there isn't someone else in the Japanese Task Force willing to talk. Let's try that."

"If any one has had second thoughts on the Kira being present in the Task Force, fake rule triggered it. You plan to divide and conquer?" She asked and corner of Near's lips curled up.

"Yep, you definitely are."

* * *

**On the other side**

Mello had been talking almost for an hour now. Every detail about the Kira case was important and he wanted to make sure he doesn't miss anything. He also didn't like repeating himself so I had to make sure I hear his every word.

Then came the part where he hid in Halle Lidner's apartment and though I wanted to concentrate only on the part where he finds out Near suspects Second L of being Kira, other questions formed in my brain.

And truth be told none of them were connected to Kira case.

So I kinda kept staring at the table, my lips slightly pursed as I half-listened to Mello.

"When I spoke to Soichiro Yagami he told me the function of Second L had been given to Matsuda Touta. He also told me he's incompetent and does only what the Task Force tells him to do."

_How long had he been at Lidner's place? Like..what did they do? I mean, Mello must have been out on errands...and even if he wasn't, she was in SPK all the time. I should ask Idri about it. _

"I told Near some of the rules written inside the notebook are fake. The fake rules are, as I said before, the thirteen day rule and the one about damaging the notebook."

_I remember Idri said that the current SKP consists of only Near and three other people. She mentioned there was only one female agent, and that she'd previously worked as a bodyguard for the president. She didn't mention how old she is, though. _

"I mentioned the Shinigami's too. Later I lead Mogi to their headquarters. He kept quiet the entire time, which made us suspicious about Kira controlling him through the notebook."

_I bet she's pretty. Definitely. And...Mello's not a kid anymore. What if they-_

"Jade? Are you listening to me?" I snapped back, taking a look at him, "Yeah, you thought he was being controlled by the notebook. Probably by Kira, which would confirm Kira is in the Task Force."

He stared at me.

"Yeah. Since no one else knew he was in the SPK."

"Right. Continue."

"Later Demegawa attacked the SPK headquarters."

"Which proves Kira is in the Task Force." I cut him off.

"It doesn't prove it."

"It's not coincidental they found where the headquarters are without knowing Mogi is in there. Kira who is in the Task Force told them where to go." I shrugged.

"That's only a speculation."

"Everything so far is only a speculation." I sighed, glancing at my watch. Matt and Kim are really taking their time.

"So what do you think will happen now?" I looked back at him.

"It's up to Near to make his move. Then we'll see."

"Wouldn't be easier to just share the information? You both have your own theories, I bet it would be easier-"

"I will not work for Near. He figured who Kira is because of my actions."

I stared at him, my brows furrowed. "What? Isn't that a good thing?"

"He got closer to Kira than I did."

"You got a hold of the notebook, while he didn't." I fired back, thinking how incredibly stubborn they both are. "Are you doing all this to catch Kira or win over Near?"

He didn't answer. Didn't think he would.

"Well I don't care what your priority is, mine is to catch Kira and get this over with. Kira is already aware of you two, but he doesn't know anything about us. If Kira is in the Japanese Task Force, and I think we can all agree there's a great possibility of that being correct, he has a hold on your real name. He doesn't know your face so you're only half-safe."

"Are you saying I should back off this whole thing because there's a chance I'll get killed?"

"Not entirely back off. You could work from the shadows. It's safer for you not to take big risks, especially when it comes to you going out on the field."

"I can get shot and killed, and for that they don't need to know anything about me."

"I'm just saying you should cut off extensive risks."

"I've been taking risks before you even came here."

"Great, back at the 'you disappeared' topic." I exhaled, tapping my fingers on the table.

We remained silent for a while until I decided to try once again.

"Kira doesn't know we're alive. You should use that."

"I'm not backing off." He simply said and I gave up.

"Fine. Do what you want. It'd be smart to remember that we're still here." I stood up. "Want coffee?"

"Didn't Kim forbid you to drink coffee?" I rolled my eyes. "She's paranoid. I get heart palpitations once and she loses her shit."

"Heart palpitations?"

"Yeah. I kinda broke the rule about not having more than two energy drinks a day. I stopped drinking that and instead switched on coffee. Even though nothing happened she thinks my heartbeat will become irregular again just because of caffeine." I shrugged.

"So, you want some?" I asked him again.

"No, I'm good."

"Suit yourself." I went to the kitchen, grabbing my secret stash Kim didn't find yet. I was putting sugar in the mug when I heard a well known snap coming from the dining room.

I absent-mindedly smiled, recognizing the sound of Mello biting his chocolate. Good thing that part of him stayed the same.

I had a lot of questions. I wanted to ask him about five years prior to him joining L.A. mafia. I wanted to ask him about his time in the mafia. Then there was his scar that left me confused because I didn't think a burn could make you look badass. Hell I even had questions about Lidner. Even though I wasn't sure I wanted to know answers to that one.

But most of all I wanted to know just how much he changed. I could see that he did. He was more focused, more driven than before. That much was clear to me. But other parts? I wasn't sure yet.

I was stirring my steaming coffee, thinking about Mello and the Kira case. It was exactly like I said to Kim; they were playing their dangerous game again, and we had to find a way to help them. Except I underestimated how complex the characters had become. As if the game wasn't over complicated enough.

"Jade? We're back!" Kim yelled and I mentally groaned.

"I'm here!" I shouted back, looking at my coffee with regret.

"Come on, I need a hand."

"Coming!"

I sighed, pouring the coffee down the drain.

"You better not be drinking coffee." Kim appeared on the doorway.

"No coffee here."

"No but we really need a hand, Matt has way more stuff than I thought he has."

"Mhm."

"You should have seen their last hideout. Dust all over the place. It was a dead giveaway." I turned to look at her, raising my eyebrow.

"For what?"

"That they're single, obviously." She whispered and I burst out laughing.

"You're insane."

"Yep. Now really, let's go. There's a lot of stuff I need to do if we expect Idri to call us soon." She disappeared from my view and I smiled.

It was interesting how none of the boys thought about us having a little game of our own.

* * *

**SPK Headquarters**

"Near, we finally have untraceable connection to Watari." Gevanni said and I looked at Near.

"Good, then please contact him at once. Commander Rester, I want you to cover Mr. Mogi's mouth." I raised my eyebrow, trying to predict Near's plan.

"Near, this is L. Is everybody okay?"

"No. Mr. Mogi died of a heart attack." All of the agents looked at Near, and even Mogi looked confused.

"I'll hand over the body to the Japanese Police within the next few days." There was a long pause on the other line and Near waited a moment before continuing.

"To those who are listening to this conversation, and even have the slightest suspicion that Kira might be a member of the Japanese Task Force...Please call the number I am about to give you. It will put you through to me."

I didn't have any doubts someone will call about their suspicions. If Kira is in the Japanese Task Force, and even met L, there is a chance L already suspected that person. Somehow that person managed to outsmart L, and all the evidence pointed to the use of fake thirteen day rule.

We still had to make sure our suspicions were correct. Just because we were sure Second L is Kira, only hard evidence or a confession truly matter.

It took a while before Second L finally responded. Near didn't take off his microphone, but rather continued to twirl a lock of his hair while playing with his toys. The entire headquarters was quiet, only sound was Gevanni's rapid typing.

"Near...No, the members of the Task Force." He spoke and Near and I shared a look.

"Anyone who wants to cooperate with Near may do so."

Interesting.

"I'm not satisfied with continuing on with the investigation in this situation either. I feel that the ideal thing is for us and the SPK to cooperate in a way that will satisfy us both."

Both Near and I knew what was up. He is in L's position, he had to respond in such a way.

Disappointing.

Near took off his microphone, ending the call.

"How long before someone calls you?" I asked.

"A day I'd say."

"And then we will be one step closer to Kira."

"Exactly."

* * *

**Ha, last day of the month and I'm posting the chapter. I'm not sure I'm satisfied about that, but whatever. I met my deadline. **

**Though really people, I want to hear your feedback. Story is still new and I'm having a lot of questions and doubts. I'd be nice to hear what you think. **

**I wanted to say something else but I forgot. Fuck it. **

**See ya. (And this time I hope it'll be sooner. Whoops.)**


	5. Chapter 5 Part One

**Good Memories and Nightmares**

**Chapter 5. Part One  
**

* * *

**27.11.2012.**

**New York**

**SPK HQ**

"How long are we going to sit here, Near?" I asked, leaning on the chair and swinging my legs.

"As long as we have to."

"Can we at least knock down the Empire State Building?" I looked at the cube structure we made a few hours ago. "It is pretty and I think we made it as realistically as possible, but we ran out of cubes and I'm feeling bored."

He kept quiet and I pursed my lips. "Or you could remove the handcuffs and I'll walk around the place. I'm not eager to sit down all day."

"Before you could."

"Before I had something to do. Besides, I wasn't in the Wammy's for the past five years."

"Then where were you?" I rolled my eyes.

"I don't understand what you're trying to achieve with these handcuffs. I didn't come here to be detained. I came here to help you. This is just making the whole thing much more inconvenient."

"I don't trust you."

"What do you think I'll do? Steal your toys and run away?" I leaned forward, trying to get him to look at me. "You're keeping vital information from me."  
"How is my line of business during five years vital information?" He looked at me before moving his stare away.

"Because we're friends." My eyes widened and I sighed, leaning back on the chair.

I was just about to open my mouth again when Gevanni turned his chair to us. "Near, Aizawa from the Task Force wants to talk to you."

Near looked at me with 'told you so' face while I shook my head.

"Near here. Will you come here under the condition that you won't tell the Japanese Task Force our whereabouts? Of course, that is after we make sure that you are not Kira, or one of Kira's spies."

Aizawa obviously agreed because Near soon continued. "Also, there is one more thing I must tell you. Mr. Mogi is alive. I lied to give incentive to those people like you." I shook my head more thoroughly now. What if Aizawa refuses to come here after learning about this?

Well, he'll probably come anyway, Mogi is still with us.

"Yes." Near gave cellphone back to Gevanni who went over to Mogi.

"You think he'll come?"

"100 percent."

"Yes, I think that would be a good idea." Mogi spoke and we all turned to him.

"So you _can_ talk. You're very impressive Mogi." Near said while I stared at him with my eyebrows raised. "You barely talked before Near. Not sure you're the right person to congratulate others."

"You've been with Jade for too long."

"I'll tell her that."

"Rude."  
"You're rude!" But Near went back to his phone-call. "Wait by the same phone booth from which you've made this call and I'll call you with further instructions at 3'o clock."

"What do you want me to do, sir?" Gevanni asked.

"It's better if we leave the transport to you."  
"You should blindfold him. Just in case." I added, still glaring at Near. He nodded. "Yes, do that. I'll be on the line the entire time for further orders."

Gevanni went away and I cleared my throat. "Near, I don't want Aizawa to know I exist." He looked at me. "You worry he's a spy? We'll thoroughly check that."

"Even if he isn't, I'd rather not reveal myself just yet. I'm still getting accustomed to all this and I don't want Kira to know about me just yet. I know Mogi won't tell anything, but I don't know about Aizawa." He nodded. "You can be in the other room while I'm talking to him. You'll be able to hear us from there."

"Thank you." I exhaled, going back to staring at the white Empire State on the desk.

* * *

"Near, they've arrived." Halle said, looking at the security footage. I looked at Near and he removed the handcuffs, letting me leave the room. I entered the side room, sitting on the chair and pulling my phone out. I sighed once I saw their faces displayed.

"We thought you'd never call."

"Japanese agent is coming here to talk to Near. I think you'll be able to hear it from here." Jade and Kim shared a look before collectively grinning. "We're ready when you are." They put their earphones in before I heard Near's voice.

"Mr. Mogi, is that Mr. Aizawa?" Near asked. "Please let them in." Sound of footsteps.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Aizawa. I'm Near."

"It's not much of a 'nice to meet you' when I have this blindfold on, you know."

"Well, if you can answer a couple of questions truthfully, then I think we'll be able to take that off."

He didn't tell me about questions.

"I see that you were close to the original SPK Headquarters location, but why is that?"

"I was tailing Mogi, who was taking directions from Mello."

"During that time you were of course connected to L – the new L - with a wire, right?"

"Yes. A wire to communicate, and a transmitter to tell L my whereabouts. I also had a camera with me. But I don't have anything on now, like you told me."

"Please take the blindfold off then."

"The fact that you had a camera may mean that L is Kira, who wanted to see Mello's face. But it also means that you are not Kira's follower with the ability to kill people just by looking at them."

It must have been pretty weird to see a hunched white-haired boy in a white shirt, playing with toys. Near had a knack to leave an impression.

"It is very unlikely that you made a deal with Kira after that, so I will believe that you have come here for the sole purpose of cooperating with us."

"Even though I came here to cooperate, that doesn't mean that I completely trust you. And I'm still a member of the Japanese Task Force, so there are limits to how much I can cooperate. The reason I came here is that I felt that your assumption isn't impossible. But something does bug me about your story that L is Kira."

"Why did it bug you? What about it is bugging you?"

"Well, it all depends on whether I can believe in Mello's story. I can't say anything unless it's really true."

"Mello's story? You're talking about the 13-day rule?" Near slightly tilted his head, looking at the agent. I looked at the girls who seemed concentrated on the conversation.

"That's right."

"I agree that Mello's tactics are over the top. But it's all from the desire to capture Kira." Jade rolled her eyes and Kim tried not to laugh.

"To be clear, Mello is trying to get Kira before Near does." Halle added. Jade made an even worse face and Kim clamped a hand over her mouth.

"For Mello and me, L was our idol, and the only person worthy of respect. Everybody at Wammy's house longed to be like L. And it is obvious that our idol, the person we respected, was killed by Kira. Therefore, we'll use any means necessary to capture Kira. Don't you think it's only natural for us to think that way?"

Aizawa remained quiet. "Anybody would think of the notebook as a way to capture Kira, once they find out it is Kira's killing tool. Therefore, Mello risked joining the mafia to use them. And although it was over the top, he got the notebook. Once you get the notebook, you will definitely test it out. The mafia was the perfect chance to try the notebook out. I'm sure that he didn't even have to bother writing the names down himself... I think it was the wrong way...but it was all to capture Kira, our hated enemy."

"He talks too much." Kim whispered and I smiled.

"We will never know if that rule is fake or not unless we actually test it out, but the Japanese Task Force won't allow it."

"He planned to kill Mello." I whispered.

"What?" Jade's eyes widened and Kim shushed her.

"But if the 13-day rule is fake, a problem arises. Is that right, Mr. Aizawa? And what is that problem?"

Silence.

"L placed someone in confinement after suspecting them of being Kira. And after 50 days of confinement, that person was released, and their innocence was verified when we found out about the 13-day rule when Higuchi was captured."

"And that person is.." We all knew before he even said it. "The present L. Right?"

"Well, to be exact, there was another person confined, too. The one who was called the Second Kira."

"Ah, the one that gathered a lot of attention with Sakura TV."

"So they were connected?" Kim whispered to Jade who nodded. "Seems so."

"If the 13-day rule is fake, then that's it. Those two are the guilty ones. The fact that L confined those two is proof enough."

"I think it's a little premature to say they're guilty because L confined them."

"Very well. But why did you release them after confining them for more than 50 days? According to your story, the 13-day rule came out after they were released."

"Kira's killings didn't stop even though they had been confined for more than 50 days without even being able to move their hands freely. It's only natural to assume that they were not Kira, and therefore should be freed."

"And it wasn't L who brought up the idea of freeing them, right?" Near asked.

"Yes. We forced L to."

"And did L simply consent to that?"

"No. L got deputy director Yagami, who was the chief back then, to put on an act. Chief Yagami released them, and L told them that 'we have come to the conclusion that you two are Kira and the Second Kira' and that they were both going to get executed. And on the way, Chief Yagami pulled his gun out and pointed it at them, saying 'I'm going to kill Kira and then kill myself'." My eyes widened and I looked at Jade who seemed to have thought the same thing. "Kim, can you pull the files about Soichiro Yagami?" She asked and Kim nodded, taking off her earphones and going out of the room.

"If they were truly Kira and the Second Kira, we assumed that they'd kill the Chief, if they were pressed that far. And that's how we decided that they were innocent."

"That doesn't make any sense." I whispered to Jade.

"Back then you didn't know of the existence of the notebook, so if those two didn't have the notebook with them, that act was meaningless." It was the perfect moment to say 'duuh' but Jade kept quiet, even though she was definitely saying it inside her head.

"Yes, now that I think of it, you're right."

"Should have thought about that before." Jade muttered.

"Kira really is something.." Near said. "He used the confinement as a way to prove himself innocent."

"What's the reasoning behind that?"

"Obviously, everybody saw the rules written in the notebook after capturing Higuchi. If people saw the 13-day rule before that, then it would have looked fake. Therefore, Kira predicted the confinement, and wrote the fake 13-day rule within the real rules."

"Kira takes number one spot as being a pain in the ass." Jade added. "To think he could have predicted that far."

"Then Kira gave the notebook to somebody else and waited for L to capture that person and read the notebook."

"B-but the rules written inside the notebook were written with a substance that doesn't exist on Earth."

"Then Kira got the Shinigami to write it, or borrowed something to write it with."

"They analyzed it?" Jade asked and I shrugged. "Just imagine how messed up the results were. Do you think it looked cool under the microscope?"

"You're thinking about chemical substance from the pen used by Shinigami's."

"I think that's cool. Maybe it would be invisible on our paper. Or like, what if-"

"Jade."

"Right. Sorry."

"By some chance, did the Kira suspect voluntarily come out and encourage you to carry out the confinement?" Near asked. "If that suspect encouraged you to do so, then it closes the case."

"He seems secure." Jade added.

"He's secure about everything. We all know who Kira is most likely to be, all we need is proof."

"That's the hard part." She sighed.

"That suspect believed in L, and waited for L to capture Higuchi and read the fake 13-day rule in the notebook. As it happens, the suspect was freed before the notebook surfaced, but even if you hadn't freed the suspect, the outcome would have been the same."

"But Near, what you just said is all assumption, and there's no proof." I mouthed 'told you so' to Jade who grinned. "That's right. But once I start centering my investigations on the suspects who were confined, then I'll surely.." I raised my eyebrow.

"So, who are these two people?"

"I'm sorry but I can't tell you that. As I said before, I've only come here as a member of the Japanese Task Force, and I work under L." Jade rolled her eyes.

"Then can you tell me everything except the names?" Near asked and Aizawa started to share other details. We listened but then Kim returned with her other laptop, showing us that Yagami family consisted of his wife Sachiko, daughter Sayu, and eldest son Light.

"You think that's the second L. And therefore Kira?" Kim asked, pointing at Light's name. "It makes sense looking at the age." I said.

"Why would Soichiro kill the suspect and then kill himself? It doesn't make any sense." Jade explained. "Yes, I think so too. Near as well. Now we only need proof."

"How will we acquire that?" Kim asked and Jade shook her head. "That's the million dollar question."

"Near already threw million dollars away." Kim added and Jade laughed.

"Wait, I think they're done." I warned them and they stopped.

"Now that you've heard our story it's 'goodbye' for us?"

"Look, I thanked you for all the valuable information you gave me." Jade started to laugh silently.

"Especially the part about the shinigami, and the shinigami eye that the holder of the notebook can get by paying half of their remaining life-span. It was the first time I heard about it, and was very useful."

"Eyes of the shinigami?" Jade repeated.

"That's freaky."

"Do you think they gouge your eyes out and then put theirs instead or-?"

"Jade, shut up! It's even more freaky now."

"Or what if they carry a bunch of eyeballs with them?" Kim glared at her and she put her hands in the air.

"I don't know how it is now, but at the beginning, Kira didn't make a deal for the eyes, and the Second Kira did. That I am sure of." Near finished.

"Is that all?" Aizawa asked.

"I hope it is, I have to go pee." Kim said and Jade burst out laughing. "Hey Kira, time-out, I need to pee." She added and Kim pushed her chair away.

"It's going to be hard to investigate the new L, so we're going to have to investigate the Second Kira suspect. If I can get the notebook during the process, that will be hard evidence that they are Kira."

"Right."

"But..Now that I've called on you and the others with the new L listening, I find it hard to believe that we will be able to find the notebook even if the new L is Kira, and the Second Kira is executing the killings. I also find it hard to believe that we will be able to get somebody who didn't speak during more than 50 days of confinement to make a confession."

"Oh my god, I want the old Near back. This is too much talking." Jade nodded. "People change, right?"

"This is too much change."

"Anyway I don't think that Kira would let the Second Kira keep killing criminals after being under so much suspicion. Now that the world has changed, Kira can easily find somebody else to do the killings."

"Then there's nothing you could do about it?"

"Not for the time being. I apologize for talking so big. If there is anything, I will call upon you once more, so please contact me secretly at the new phone number."

"Okay guys, I think he'll wrap it up now. I'll hear you later." They waved to me and I sighed.

No time to waste, we need to make a plan fast. This could get very bad really quick.

I wonder how will they handle their end?

* * *

**I'm too tired to edit the second part of the chapter so you'll get it tomorrow. Yikes, last few minutes of the day. FML.**


	6. Chapter 5 Part Two

**Good Memories and Nightmares**

**Chapter 5. Part two**

* * *

**27.11.2012.**

**New York**

Once Kim and I said goodbye to Idri we wanted to share our newly received info with the guys. Except we found the entire place empty of a certain blond idiot and his dorky accomplice. Naturally we called them every animal in the book and then decided to do our own thing until they come back. Kim went on to play her games while I concluded the wisest thing to do would be to take a nap.

And I was pretty close to falling asleep if I may add. So close.

It was a bit nice to see 'Mello' on the screen of my phone, and I even forgave him for waking me up, even though I wasn't really sleeping. But then I remembered why was I trying to fall asleep in the first place and my annoyance came back.

"You better have a valid reason for waking me up."

"We're going to L.A."

"L.A.?" I sat up. "Why the hell are you going to L.A.?"

"Hal told me both Mogi and Aizawa are leaving the SPK so-"

"Oh goddamit, I was supposed to tell you that not-" I stopped myself from saying anything rude, instead clutching the phone and moving it away from my mouth. "Tell me what?"

"That's all because Near talks too much- KIM!" I yelled.

"When did you talk to Near?"

"I didn't talk to Near. I just listened him blabbing on and on with that Aizawa guy – KIM! GET YOUR ASS HERE!"

"Jesus woman could you stop yelling!" Matt said as I went out of the room. "Where are you two?"

"At the airport. The plane is leaving in less than an hour and we plan to be on it."

"Kim!" I busted into her room, finding her playing her PSP with earphones on. She took them off, looking at me all confused.

"What?"

"They're going to L.A."

"What? Why?"

"Halle told them where Aizawa and Mogi are going and now they're tailing them." She stared at me. "What? When did..Oh come on! We just settled in!"

"No one said you have to come too, you know?" Matt added.

"Really, Matt? Really?"

"Not like they could make it on time." Mello said and I looked at the phone and then at Kim, raising my eyebrow.

"Good luck in L.A. jackasses!" She yelled and I hung up.

"Five minutes." She said and I nodded, going back to my room.

In the end we were both driving towards the airport with our essentials packed in our backpacks, our lovely new apartment locked and our heads fuming.

They're in for a bad time if they think they can outsmart us.

* * *

"_What came first, the chicken or the dickhead?_" I asked as I sat down by the window, Mello and Matt from the seat in front turning to look at us.

"How the hell did you make it?" Matt asked.

"Oh yeah, packed our shit, drove here, strolled down a couple of duty-free shops, talked with a stewardess about you two and still managed to make it." Kim answered.

"Stewardess?"

"Yes, you kinda stand out the crowd truth be told. But L.A. is a good pick I must admit. You'll blend right in with all the other pricks in Hollywood." I burst out laughing. Kim was slaying.

"No but I needed to ask her if there are free seats behind you two." I said.

"Why?" Mello asked.

"So I can kick your seat all the way to L.A." I kicked his seat. "Oh god." He turned around but I continued to kick the seat, Kim and I high-fiving.

"Besides, you can't survive out there without us." She added and Matt raised his eyebrow.

"What, you have a place there too?"

"Damn straight we do."

"I'm beginning to think you did a lot of criminal work. It's fishy that you have that much money."

"Shut up Matt, they know how Jade looks." I glared at her and she laughed.

"I'm not really surprised." Matt turned around as well and we leaned closer. "So who are we tailing?"

"Left line, three rows in front of us."

"Damn that guy's tall." Kim muttered. "Eh, wake me up once we get there." I put earphones in my ears, kicking Mello's seat a few more times before we set off, leaving New York behind us.

* * *

Kim woke me up as promised, and we made a deal we'll go to check our place while they tail those two. That part seemed quite boring and we wanted nothing to do with that.

We had to acquire a car, and then we were hungry, so all that prolonged. But we managed to get Idri on the phone and that was a huge success.

"Yo Idri, we're just letting you know we're in L.A. now."

"I knew it. Mello and Matt are tailing Aizawa and Mogi, right?"

"Yeah, because Halle told them. We were lucky to catch the plane at all."

"Mello knows everything Near discussed with Aizawa except the part that Light is probably Kira. Near wants Mello to figure that out for himself."

"Douche." Kim muttered and we laughed.

"He probably will. But now we have no new info to share with them. We just need to wait and see where will tailing lead us."

"Just be careful. Task Force is still in Los Angeles. Don't make yourself obvious."

"We got this Idri, don't worry. We'll keep in touch."

"Right. Bye then." Kim hung up while I unlocked the apartment.

"Will you join them in tailing those two agents?" We entered dark apartment, she immediately going to the windows and moving the blinds away.

"I'm not sure. We should center our investigation on Second L, but we can't get close to him. Which means we have to switch to rest of the Task Force, as well as anyone else remotely connected to Light Yagami or Second L." She nodded, coming close to me as I put the grocery bags in the kitchen. "I'll probably help them. But I keep thinking about that stunt Near pulled when their HQ was attacked."

"When he threw the money?"

"Yeah. The guy in the helicopter was a news reporter for a TV station in Japan. Demegawa I think. He hosts a show called Kira's Kingdom."

"You think he's in touch with Kira?"

"I don't know. But I don't have anything better to do so I'll maybe look into that." I shrugged.

"As long as you do something. Anyway, we'll need to share a room or else it's gonna get pretty cramped up in here."

"Yeah no problem."

"That place in New York was perfect." She sighed.

"This is a lesson Kim."

"Lesson?"

"Yes. It means we should start preparing for our trip to Tokyo because you never know where those two might lead us. Or the case."

"Wise words. Fine, I'll arrange a couple of things. You gonna help me set up the room?"

"Sure."

So we settled in, messaged them the address and concluded both our microwave and TV were still in function. We sat down to watch the news and that's when we learned that that Demegawa guy, as well as other Kira's Kingdom executives, all died of heart attacks.

"That's freaky. Just as you said you'd look into them-"

"And they die. Great." I exhaled.

"You still gonna look into them?"

"Now I have even more reason to do so. Why would he kill them now?"

"I don't know. Maybe they disobeyed him?"

"Could be." I couldn't sit anymore and do nothing so I grabbed my laptop.

Hitoshi Demegawa, director of Sakura TV. His network's ratings skyrocketed when Second Kira used them to gain more attention. L even used them to get a hold on Third Kira, Higuchi. He's been recognized as Kira's spokesperson, and lately he's used that to host a show called Kira's Kingdom where viewers can send names of criminals and thus help Kira. He was even using people to donate money for the first ever chapel, if you could call it like that, where people will be able to worship Kira. He seemed like an opportunist, and I didn't quite think he really worships Kira as much as he worships money. Which could also be seen from the footage of his attack on the SPK.

But what got me thinking is that SPK was supposed to be well hidden. I mean, we managed to find it using other methods, but how could someone like him find it? No, how could someone like him even know about the existence of SPK? If he thinks Kira is god, why would he be concerned about someone trying to catch him?

Oh right, he called them nonbelievers.

Since when are we in 12th century?

Either way, that particular thing didn't make any sense to me. Unless Kira told him where to go because he suddenly became threatened by the SPK. And if Kira is Second L then that means Near somehow got too close with his speculations.

Yeah, that's definitely what happened.

Demegawa was probably receiving orders from Kira. And Kira probably disapproved his last decision about building a chapel and therefore killed him? But if he was getting orders from Kira, he wouldn't have done such a thing in the first place.

It seemed he took things into his own hands and it was too late for him. Kira didn't want his name to be tainted.

He probably lost contact with Kira.

"Hey Jade, I know what those two are doing." Kim said, looking at the screen of her laptop.

"What?"

"Matt contacted me. Said they tailed Aizawa and Mogi to one apartment and Mogi stayed there. Mello followed Aizawa while Matt remained there and it seems that's where some blond Japanese girl lives. Mello said that that girl should be Second Kira, if Near has his facts straight."

"Do you know who she is?"

"No idea. I told him to take a photo or something. If that girl is Second Kira then maybe she's somehow connected to Light Yagami?"

"Good thinking." I stood up, taking my phone.

"You're gonna call him?"

"I'm gonna _try_ and call him."

He answered. Miracles happen.

"What?"

"So do you know who's that Japanese girl?"

"..I see Matt's been bored."

"Can you really blame him?"

"As far as I know that girl is Second Kira. Or used to be."

"But you don't know her name."

"No."

"That's unfortunate."

"So that talk you and Near had-"

"I didn't talk with Near. I just listened in on him talking to Aizawa, I already told you that."

"And how did you manage that?"

"We have a girl inside."

"Aha, so Idri is sharing info?"

"Duuh. It's in our best interest to end this, not play games like you two are."

"What games?"

"Well do you honestly believe Halle told you all that out of courtesy?"

"Of course not. I know Near told her to call me."

"But do you also know she didn't tell you everything?"

"Like?"

"Like Near's famous 'Don't tell him the identity of Second Kira, he'll figure it out for himself.'"

"...Don't tell me. I will figure it out myself." I smiled. "Had a feeling you'd say that. So are you tailing that Japanese girl or not?"

"I think we'll monitor her for a while. I'm done with tailing people for the moment."

"Just don't get too close to the Task Force."

"I've already been in front of their hideout."

"Have you not heard what I just said?"

"Too late."

"Right. Then keep in mind we're here to assist."

"You won't leave us alone, will you?"

"No, we're kinda obnoxious like that."

"Some things never change."

"Hey!"

"Do you have a garage by any chance?"

"Uuh, not really. Is back alley good enough for you?"

"Will do. We'll come by later."

"Yeah, sure." I hung up, looking at the city lights through the window. First stop was New York. Second is Los Angeles. Third will most probably be Japan, where it all started.

We're getting closer and closer to L.

I hope none of us will follow L's footsteps all the way.

* * *

**Part one of this chapter was so boring for me to write, and I probably won't repeat it. I just wanted to show that's how girls will communicate and share information. Both Near and Mello are too prideful so someone has to connect them. **

**As for other things it's kinda weird to stick to the manga and make up my own things along the way. Like, there's literally a gap between 27th of November and 1st of December in the manga. I'm still thinking of either avoiding that gap or using it. And I'm scared of using it and then fucking it up.**

**In other news, is anyone still going to FF? I keep seeing people migrating to 'Archive of our own' and I'm turning to an old man waving my cane and being 'Back in my day FF was everything we had, and we were goddamn grateful for it!'**

**Or is that just me? Probably.**

**Please please review and if finals don't kill me I'll update this. See ya!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Good Memories and Nightmares**

**Chapter six**

* * *

**27th of November**  
**Los Angeles**

Mello and Matt thought they were lucky once they saw Japanese policemen going to the apartment of the possible Second Kira suspect. More so because it was only a couple of hours after they had learned such a person was already suspected and confined by L, five years ago.

What they didn't know, however, was the fact that two policemen left New York with newly awoken suspicion. Aizawa didn't tell Near who the two suspects from five years ago are, but Near had been successful in making the agents question if Light Yagami and Misa Amane were ever cleared of suspicion. How much they hated it, they had to check if Light and Misa were lying under their noses. And Aizawa hated it the most. Not just because it would mean he'd been working under Kira all these years, but also that L had been right all along. He didn't like L to begin with and if all this proved L was right five years ago, he would have to apologize to him. That made him enraged.

So for his' and Light's sake, Aizawa wanted to see proof of their innocence with his own eyes. So far, that proof was the 13 day rule, but after Mello said it was fake, he couldn't rely only on that. He believed in Soichiro Yagami's confirmation of Light's innocence. Precisely because that was the only real evidence they had thus far, certain issues appeared. Aizawa didn't want to think about the possibility of Soichiro being manipulated by Kira, or worse, being lied to.

Once he told Light about his talk with Near, omitting the details, he made it clear that they will keep an eye on both him and Misa.

_You can keep an eye on Misa how much you want Aizawa, she's just as clueless as she is useless._

So far Light didn't seem shaken, so as a sign of good faith, Aizawa decided to share with him the information Mogi told him.

"Also, Mogi said a girl arrived after Demegawa's attack on the SPK. She introduced herself as Near's equal and is currently assisting him with the investigation."

"Near's equal?"

"She knows L's dead. And Near's been rather angry she kept herself hidden for five years. She's not from the orphanage though. Roger said only Mello and Near were on the list to succeed L and that only they knew about L's death." Light believed him. Aizawa and Mogi went to visit the orphanage at the very beginning of this whole Mello and Near ordeal. If there was someone who was equal to Near, they would have said it before.

_Then how does she know it? Has Mello been talkative? No matter, so far she's just as unimportant as Near's agents. As long as L's death isn't revealed to the general public, there's no threat. _

"Have you seen her Aizawa?" Matsuda asked.

"No. Only Mogi saw her."

"Have you seen Near?"

"Get to work Matsuda and stop asking stupid questions."

"I'll just ask Mogi later." Matsuda muttered and Aizawa glanced at Light's back turned to the computers.

For his' and Light's sake, he hoped Near was wrong.

* * *

**30th of November  
**

**New York, SPK Headquarters**

**Idri's POV**

"So you sent Rester to Japan to investigate Light Yagami while real Light Yagami is sitting in Los Angeles." I shook my head.

"Girls told you that?"

"Mello had already been in front of their HQ." I shrugged.

"We don't know who Second Kira suspect is. So far we can only use information available to us."

"I know, I know. It's to our advantage that they don't know we know the identity of Second L. Aizawa isn't even aware he gave us an important clue. But I don't think ill of him. So far he's the only one brave enough to pursue his suspicions, regardless of his relationship with that same person." I felt Near's eyes on my face but I continued with my speech. "I really want to go to Japan. That's where the whole case started. It's also an interesting country."

"I can see your fascination with it." Near added and I looked at him from the corner of my eye. "It's hard not to when you've covered more than half of the desk with your origami."

"I think they're charming." I looked at the paper crane sitting on my palm, admiring the crowded table. "They look like a little army." I chuckled.

"Those were important documents."

"I've seen them, Near. They weren't important." I grabbed another paper. "Besides, I know you told them to keep all the important information in their head only."

"How many members will there be in your paper army?"

"If you make one thousand paper cranes, your wish will come true." I looked at him. "Have you heard about that?"

"You would wish for us to catch Kira?"

"I would wish for Gevanni to catch a break." I said, turning to look at the black-haired agent on my left. He was pinching the bridge of his nose, his eyes shut tight. I counted how many times he stood up to refuel his coffee cup and that kind of persistence was equal only to Jade's, who kept being tired no matter how many cups she had.

"You gave him too much work, Near."

"He's very efficient."

"And a perfectionist, but just because Rester's gone doesn't mean he has to overwork himself." Near turned his chair to the agent.

"Gevanni, you can go home if you want to." I gave Near a look. "You can go home." He repeated and I nodded. Gevanni stood up, taking his coat. "Don't worry about us, we'll be fine. Just you get some rest." I said after him.

"Thank you, sir." He exited the HQ and I turned to Near with a smile. "Oooh, he called me sir." I chuckled. Near shook his head, finishing his jigsaw. "You know what we need?" I asked.

"Beside more paper?"

"Lego's." I grinned and Near flinched. "There's a whole barrel of them in Wammy's."

"Still sitting there? Why didn't you bring them with you?"

"I haven't touched them for years. It didn't seem right." My smile disappeared and I looked at white paper cranes arranged on the desk.

"I wouldn't wish for us to catch Kira. I know we'll do it. In fact, I don't know what I would wish for."

"I don't have a wish anymore." My eyes widened and I turned to the side, hiding my smile. "It's pretty lonely here. No one's typing."

"Because you insisted Gevanni goes home."

"Maybe I shouldn't have. Who knows if he can drive in his state." I stood up, walking around the place. After Aizawa left the HQ I thought Near will handcuff me again. But he didn't. I guess he realized I won't walk out as easily as I've walked in.

"I have an idea." I brought my chair closer to Near. "Let's see what others are doing."

"It's a three hours difference." I eyed the watch. "I doubt they're sleeping."

* * *

**Los Angeles Shore**

**Jade's POV**

Our apartment in Los Angeles wasn't as spacious as the one in New York, but it was familiar. And we all accustomed to it rather quickly. We also had a good view of the backstreet from our room, so we knew when those two idiots went somewhere.

Right now the car was gone and from what Kim told me, Matt needed some kind of equipment if he wanted to keep an eye on the blond girl. It was around eleven in the evening and Kim and I decided to postpone our discussion about dinner until those two come back. I was kinda starving by now so I hoped they'll be back soon.

We were currently residing in our shared room, me lying on the bed and researching about things connected and not connected to the Kira investigation. Kim was, surprisingly, not playing her PSP but instead kept browsing through channels.

"I swear to god, there's nothing on television these days." She puffed. "I thought we concluded that years ago." I added.

"Yeah, years ago when we realized the only channel that is actually playing music is VH1 Classic." I laughed. "Aah, the period when we only listened to eighties music. Idri was really annoyed at the beginning but then she started to dig it."

"Her favorite was West End Girls, right?"

"I can't remember really." Kim finally switched to the aforementioned channel and I turned my laptop off. "I'm hungry." I sat down on the floor next to her.

"They'll come soon."

"I hope so." We continued to sit there and watch music videos, which reminded me of simpler times. It was hard to find peace when you're dealing with Kira and have to constantly worry about everything so you don't get killed.

Then we heard the opening beats to a song we once knew from word to word. I pressed my lips together and Kim looked at me.

"I bet you don't remember the lyrics any more."

"I bet you I do."

"Coffee right?"

"Damn straight."

"Pfft, bring it on sister." We shook hands, both of us yelling the lyrics in sync with the video.

"_Goddess on the mountain top  
Burning like a silver flame  
The summit of beauty and love  
And Venus was her name_

_She's got it_  
_Yeah, baby, she's got it_  
_I'm your Venus, I'm your fire_  
_At your desire_  
_Well, I'm your Venus, I'm your fire_  
_At your desire_

_Her weapons were her crystal eyes  
Making every man mad  
Black as the dark night she was  
Got what no one else had  
Wah!_

_She's got it_  
_Yeah, baby, she's got it_  
_I'm your Venus, I'm your fire_  
_At your desire_  
_Well, I'm your Venus, I'm your fire_  
_At your desire_!"

Then I had the misfortune to turn my head to Kim and see Matt and Mello standing by the open doors, Mello raising his brows while Matt was silently dying from laughter. I lost my smile and my eyes widened, nudging Kim in the ribs.

"What?" I told her with my eyes to turn around and she also went through two stages of shock: losing all color in your face and then becoming red.

"Oh come on, you could at least finish the song." Matt said still laughing.

"We heard you from the street." Mello added, and even he seemed somewhat amused.

"What took you so long? We're starving here." Kim ignored their comments while I turned the volume down.

"Yeah, let's order pizza." Matt said and they both went to the kitchen. I speed-walked after them. "No, I'm done with pizza! If I eat one more slice I'll puke myself." They stopped near the counter and Kim soon joined us. "She's right, though. That's the only thing we've had for the last couple of days." Mello looked at Matt.

"That's the only safe thing to eat!"

"I propose Chinese food." I crossed my hands and Kim rolled her eyes, going back to the room.

"I don't understand you people, pizza is a gift to mankind." Matt continued.

"That's the only thing we eat!"

"That's your own fault, Jade!" Kim yelled from the room.

"Let's just take Chinese tonight."

"But Pizza Hut has Cheesy Bites Pizza!"

"What's that?" Mello asked.

"The crust is filled with melted cheese and-" I rolled my eyes and Mello made a face.

"Soon you'll have cheese instead of blood."

"So like cheese sauce?"

"Okay people calm down. Only one way to settle this." Kim came back holding a bunch of takeaway pamphlets.

"Who's gonna decide?"

"Rock paper scissors?" She proposed and I sighed. "Fine."

Then my phone rang and I smiled as soon as I saw it was Idri. "Do you ever sleep?" I asked, seeing their faces greeting me from the dark HQ.

"I told you they're not sleeping yet." Idri looked at Near with a smile.

"We haven't even eaten yet." Matt muttered.

"Let them decide." Mello said all of a sudden. "At least we won't have to do rock paper scissors." Kim placed the pamphlets on the counter. "Idri pick one number between one and five."

"Uuuh..." She looked at Near who shrugged. "Four." He said and Idri looked at me with a nod. "Four it is."

"Four is...Domino's." Kim announced.

"Yes!" Matt cheered.

"Oh, kill me now." I whined.

"They do have pasta J, you can always eat that."

"Pasta?" Mello asked while I raised my eyebrows. "J?" But Matt didn't hear me so I looked at Kim who shrugged.

"I guess you won't be eating cheesy bites tonight." Kim read the pamphlet in search of a number.

"No matter, I think Domino's have pizza on pizza."

"Will someone stop them already?" Mello said from the couch and I grinned at Idri and Near. "What are you two doing?"

"Nothing really. Everyone went home so we're bored."

"Idri cluttered the whole desk with her paper cranes." She glared at him. "She did the same thing to us once, Near. You're in our prayers." Kim said and I chuckled. "You're having fun I see." Idri continued.

"Just discussing very important things." Matt yelled.

"I actually want to ask-" Near begun but Idri put her palm in front of his mouth. "Shush now. I didn't call them to discuss the case."

"What will you eat?" Kim whispered and I scanned the list, in the end indeed deciding on pasta. I pointed the name and she nodded, going to ask guys the same thing.

"When will you go to Japan?" Idri asked.

"I think soon but you never know with them." I shrugged, remembering something. "Hey wait. Kim, you owe me coffee." I turned to look at her and she furrowed her brows. "No I don't."

"I knew the lyrics!"

"But we didn't finish the song." She shrugged, taking her jacket.

"Where are you going?" Idri asked.

"Domino's two streets away so I'll go get the food myself."

"You could have said that before." Matt added, leaving the apartment. "Wait!" Kim ran after him and I rolled my eyes.

"Well we'll leave you alone now. Have fun." Before I could even say 'bye', Idri and Near disappeared from the screen.

* * *

**With Kim and Matt**

**Kim's POV**

"Matt, it's two streets away. I'm not gonna drive there." I refused to enter the car.

"I said I'll drive."

"It's ridiculous. You can't even walk for two streets?"

"The pizza can get cold very fast." He retorted and I exhaled. "You don't have to go with me if you don't want to. I didn't ask for your escort." I started to walk away and I soon heard the slam of a car door being shut.

"Yeah but I'm still gonna provide it." He lit his cigarette, following me down the street. I kept quiet until we got to Domino's and even when we took the food. But I snapped on the way back. I was just too curious.

"Why did you start smoking?" I blurted out and he glanced at me.

"I don't know. The nerves. Or the boredom." He shrugged.

"Nerves?"

"It's calming. You do something with your hands, you pay attention to something. Mello doesn't approve of it but he gets it. The nerves get to you. That's why he's always biting that chocolate of his."

It made sense. No, it made perfect sense.

"I thought games were for the nerves. Or maybe you've changed the difficulty to nightmare again?" I smiled, attempting to make a joke.

"There was a certain period in time when I couldn't play games." He remained serious and I regretted my failure of a joke. Way to go Kim.

He was right, though. We all had to deal with stress or fear. Matt smoked. Mello ate chocolate. Idri and Near were always solving jigsaws or building something. You had to have a steady arm if you wanted to build something with delicate things like cards, or cubes. Idri used to build things. Now she liked to do origami. Which also required precision. By now she probably found order in doing something repetitive like that on a daily basis.

Jade had a lot of things that indicated she was nervous or anxious. I've spent years with her now, and I learned most of them. Other than those little signs, she wouldn't let it be visible in her behaviour or talk. Most often she would bite her nails. After some time I made her wear nail polish as an attempt to stop her. Now she had a ritual of putting on a nail polish and leaving it intact for a certain period of time. Then she would snap and peel off the nail polish, only to reapply it again. She went through nail polishes faster than anyone I've ever met. She would bite her lips a lot too.

I couldn't tell for certain what my rituals were. I couldn't keep it to myself so when things got overwhelming for me I broke down and cried. I never cried a lot, but I've always felt better after it.

We were a strange bunch, that's for sure. All kinds of messed up.

"Your games are still in Wammy's house. I didn't bring them with me." Matt said all of a sudden and I looked at him.

"Oh. Okay." I swallowed before my next question. "When did you leave Wammy's?"

"A couple of months after Mello."

"Wammy's must have been very quiet."

"To me it got louder. Everyone was happy all of a sudden, as if two most intelligent kids didn't walk out of the door."

"Maybe because of the drastic change in the spots?"

"That was the final straw." Corner of his lips curled in a smile. "I left after that. You can't even imagine how horrible it was, seeing that."

"Seeing what?" I furrowed my brows.

"Myself as number one. You know the whole place went straight to hell if I'm the first on the list." I laughed.

"What's so funny?" He asked, smile on his face.

"That's the most Matt thing I've heard you say ever since we left the apartment. You always hated that list."

"Still do. I think Mello would have agreed. What's the point in competing if the most intelligent kid isn't participating?"

"You have a point there." We approached the apartment and he turned to look at me before the steps.

"I'm still pretty pissed you've hid yourself for five years." I smiled. Of course.

"I would have told you if I knew the reason, Matt." He furrowed his brows.

"You don't know the reason?" I shook my head.

"Only Jade knows the reason. She never told it to me or Idri."

"Wait a minute, you went along with someone's plan without knowing the reason?"

"We were pissed too. I didn't talk to her for two months. I thought she'll give up." I chuckled. "Jade has a good reason for it. She promised she'll tell us. She keeps her promises, and so far I haven't regretted putting my trust in her."

"She made those choices by herself."

"I wouldn't bet on it. She likes to say it that way to remind us, and you, that she's the one at fault and that you should hate only her, not me and Idri." He sighed.

"You sure love to make things complicated, don't you?" I grinned. "It's our speciality." He finally begun to make his way upstairs. "Fine. I'll call truce with you three for the time being. You cannot expect me to not be bitter about it, though."

"It would be suspicious if you weren't bitter about it."

"Ha ha." I smiled, following him into the apartment where we found Jade bickering with Mello.

"And you said Wammy's got louder with all of us gone." I looked at him.

"It was a wrong kind of loud."

* * *

**New York**

"I think I may have a wish after all." Near said quietly, playing with his toys. I knew what he meant. The whole scene we witnessed over the phone was very familiar.

I smiled, making another paper crane. "I think we all have the same wish."

* * *

**Okay so, y'all have permission to kill me since I took forever to update this. I had to deal with the worst possible writer's block ever. I've never experienced anything like this. I find out that there's a three day gap in the manga and I'm all like "Ah yes, perfect. I'll use that." And then I have no idea what to do and just stare at the blank screen. I didn't have success in writing anything else so I basically wasted entire summer. If anyone's free to visit me and beat the shit out of me, you're welcome to come at any time.**

**I think I'll probably change my name back to what it was when I was writing Intelligent Boys and Girls, even though I've moved from my 7th grade goth phase (jfc), but I have this weird idea that people don't recognize the sequel because I changed my name. This is me giving you a warning that RunningThroughDimensions is going back to WeirdGothGirl roots. Yay!**

**Also, DISCLAIMER: I don't own Death Note, or lyrics to _Venus_ by _Bananarama_. God bless the eighties.**

**...I think I covered it all. I'm a horrible person, here have some feelings in this chapter since I didn't give you a proper one for three months. **

**Big thanks to everyone who reviewed!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7.**

* * *

**28th of November**

**Los Angeles**

I didn't want to wake up, but it became inevitable. I could hear cars outside and by the way air and light felt in the room I knew it was morning. I sat up, looking at Kim's empty bed and reaching for my phone.

Nine in the morning.

I stood up, moving my shoulders and waiting for my bones to crack. I went to the kitchen, finding Kim sitting in the living room, looking at the screen of her laptop.

"Morning." She said, not paying me a glance. I didn't answer her.

I shook once I stepped on the kitchen tiles with my bare feet. What also messed with my head was the fact that there was only one set of typing fingers in the room, when it should have been two.

But Kim was already reading my mind.

"I don't think they're up yet. And they're not out. At least I think they're not, their vehicles are still parked in the street." I opened the fridge, looking at empty shelves and cringing.

"We have to go grocery shopping. There are some Lucky Charms in the cupboard next to the fridge if you want." I opened the cupboard and met with dusty shelves. I pressed my forehead on the cold door of the fridge, trying to get to my senses.

"I told Matt about it. Yesterday." I raised my eyebrow, half looking at her. "About what?" My voice was all raspy, like I've been a smoker last nineteen years. I cleared my throat.

"About you not telling us the reason for bailing five years ago." She stopped typing, looking at me. "I was being honest about it." She defended herself.

"And?"

"He said it doesn't make any sense. I told him I trust you, so he said he calls truce with the three of us for the time being." She paused. "Jade, you have to tell Mello."

"Tell him what?" I turned back to the fridge.

"Tell him the reason. He's the only one who won't make peace with you keeping it quiet for so long."

"He'll have to."

"You're not gonna yield at all?" I bit my lip. "No."

She sighed. "You can at least talk to him. Do you want me to talk to him?"

"No."

"I'll tell Matt-"

"No one needs to talk to Mello on my behalf. I don't need to talk to him about anything that isn't the case. He wouldn't want it either way. Let's just..." I went to the sink. "Why don't we have anything to eat? Where are all the leftovers?"

"Oh. I didn't check."

"There were some pizza leftovers. I specifically remember-" I began opening the cupboards one by one. "-that Matt couldn't eat all of it." I stood in the middle of the kitchen, my hands crossed.

"He probably ate them at night or got up early. I don't know." I rolled my eyes, leaving the kitchen and going to dress myself.

"Oh, by the way, I found out who that blond girl is." Kim said as I returned to the living room, plopping myself on the couch.

"Who?" She turned her monitor around and I saw a pink web-page with rows of pictures of her in different clothes. "She's a Japanese model and actress. She came to L.A. a month ago for her new role but all of a sudden she quit the entertainment industry."

"What's her name?" I asked, hearing doors closing and turning to look at the hallway. Matt emerged, going to the kitchen with empty cans of Red Bull and a half of cigarette in his mouth.

"Amane Misa. Or Misa Amane. I never know which one comes first." Kim said, turning the monitor back to her.

"And?" I expected something more scandalous.

"And she's really cute."

"And?"

"And she's blond."

"Yeah I know that."

"I thought I'd emphasize it."

"Why?"

"Because you usually go for the blonds." She said and I heard Matt laughing in the kitchen. I glared at her.

"Ha ha. Go to hell." I leaned back on the couch, noticing Mello coming to the living room.

"Matt, I'll need your help later." He said, going straight for the doors.

"Good morning to you too." Kim muttered.

"With what?" Matt asked.

"We need to put bugs in that girl's apartment."

"You want to make sure she's not the Second Kira?" I asked him, turning my head to look at him. He nodded.

"Then why not go with the cameras? She's more likely to show us the notebook than say something incriminating."

"Do you have cameras?" Mello looked at Matt who was extinguishing his cigarette in the sink. "Nope. I have bugs only."

"Then we'll go with that."

I looked at Kim who was shaking her head, mouthing 'unbelievable'.

"I'll call you once they leave the apartment." He exited and I rolled my eyes. Kim cleared her throat and I saw her glaring in Matt's direction.

"What?"

She cleared her throat again.

"I'm not a mind reader, woman." I chuckled. "You didn't even think about asking us for the cameras?" Kim asked.

"Well..no. Do you have them?"

"No. But I can procure them." I looked at Matt. "Do what you want. Mello will probably call me soon anyway." He shrugged. "By the way, why don't we have anything to eat?"

"A million dollar question." I sighed, hearing Matt going back to his room. Kim stared at me.

"Yeah, I know." I stood up, taking my jacket.

I decided that I'll steal Mello's chocolate if he keeps being a major jerk. Then my mature self told me I better not act like I'm still fourteen and fucking slash the tires on his bike instead. Definitely a better idea.

* * *

Once Matt met up with Mello they talked about the best strategy for keeping an eye on Misa and Mogi. They had to make sure they don't lose a sight of them at any time. They split up the chores; Mello will follow them outside the apartment, unless he's not following other members of the Task Force. Matt will install bugs and keep a watch on the apartment from the building nearby, also taking Mello's role of following them when he has to.

Once Misa and Mogi left the apartment, Mello was supposed to keep an eye on them while Matt makes sure the bugs are in place. But Mello and Matt still had trouble remembering a lot of things. Particularly, how to deal with forces that shouldn't be reckoned with.

So naturally when they saw Kim and Jade entering the building they paused their conversation, looking at the entrance in disbelief.

"Tell me they didn't just walk in." Mello pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Nah man, they totally didn't. Didn't have backpacks full of equipment. Nope." Mello exhaled, dialling Jade's number. She answered after the first ring.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing?"

"Well we just entered the apartment and I don't know about Kim but I'll make a mess and then steal all the food they have."

"I'll write them a message with all the Kira info we have." Kim yelled from afar.

"Your sarcasm is getting hard to swallow."

"Your fucking attitude is pissing me off, Mello." Jade finally blew up. "I know you're not deaf but you sure act like you are. Now keep a watch for their return and let us do our job." She hung up and Matt leaned on the window.

"It's futile." Mello looked at him. "What's futile?"

"Trying to fight them." The blond exhaled, leaning on the car seat.

"It's not their fight." He said after minutes of silence.

"No, it's not my fight. It's not Kim's either. We've never been players of this game. We're like, companions. Spirit animals. I'd be a wolf." Mello rolled his eyes. "Near's a player, Idri, you and Jade also. They wouldn't be participating only if they were dead. And they're not any more, so there's that."

"They keep messing up my plan."

"You didn't tell us your plan."

"Tch. Would you go after them and make sure they don't do something stupid?"

"You really should give them more credit." Matt said, opening the doors of the car. "And would you stop trying to talk some sense into me!"

"Funny how the roles got reversed over the years. For the record, I made truce with the girls yesterday."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Mello furrowed his brows.

"It means I made peace with them being a mystery-"

"You made peace with it?"

"For the time being." Matt clarified. "Because it's better for all of us to get this stupid case over with and hear the truth. You think Near made peace with Idri? Nu uh, he's definitely giving Idri a hell of a time. And I know that sounds weird but you should have seen Near once you left Wammy's, he began going on Roger's nerves a lot and it was really funny, but also kinda sad if you think about how Roger never got to endure both you and Near at the same time." Mello was killing Matt with his glare.

"Stop talking and go check on them." But Matt closed the doors of the car.

"I don't know why I would do that, to be honest. They survived on their own for five years and are better organized than we are. Like, do you have a place in New York, L.A., and Tokyo?"

"What do you think?" Mello was losing his patience and the more Matt knew he was annoying Mello, the more he kept talking. So far, Matt was the only one who saw Mello's big transitions in character. From his angry behaviour before girls came to Wammy's then to his more relaxed self before girls 'died'. Then his leave and the build-up towards it. Near played some part in Mello's leave but Matt believed it was Mello's conscious decision to leave and make sense of himself and the world. This version now was different than the version he knew as a fourteen year-old, but it was a relief to know his stubbornness stayed, and that he could annoy him just as easily as before.

"Plus, they have more money than Near probably. Well, after he threw all that money out of the window it's positive they have more money than Near."

"And have you asked them where did they get all that money from?"

"No."

"Exactly. It's one of the many things we don't know about."

"Okay I have this weird idea, but hear me out. Why don't we..wait for it.._ask_ them where did they get all that money from?"

"You're really going on my nerves right now." He refused to look at him.

"For the most part we didn't ask them anything related to their whereabouts over the years. We just asked them about the disappearance part."

"To which they refused to give a valid explanation. Do you really think they'll tell us anything else?"

"We can at least try and be on good terms with them. Don't you know what happens if we're not on good terms with them?"

"This is all because of L's plan. If we hadn't met-"

"That still wouldn't delete their names off the list." Mello tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.

"I'm glad they're alive and I'm glad they're here. At least I can admit that. Because you-"

"Matt." Mello cut him off but Matt kept talking, taking out his cigarettes.

"You're all brooding and serious and-"

"Matt!"

"And you keep saying this is some fight between Near and you but it's more of a fight between you and you because you won't admit certain things and if you ever will you'll explode or something." He lit his cigarette, finally looking at Mello who was calling someone, pissed off look on his face.

"What?"

"They've entered the building, clear out of the apartment now." He hung up. "When did they enter?" Matt looked at the street.

"Your attention span is three seconds unless you're playing a video game or rambling about things that aren't important."

"My rambles are on point." Mello ignored him, his attention at the entrance of the building. "They should be out already. Where are they?"

"Start the car." Matt said and Mello pulled up in front of the entrance. A few moments later the girls entered the back seat.

"Holy shit man. In the nick of time, in the nick of time." Kim said, closing the doors. Jade circled the car and entered with an exhale. "The point of lookout is to warn us when they're on the beginning of the street, not in the entrance." She wasn't as freaked out as Kim was and Mello shifted the gear, wasting no time on leaving that part of the town.

"We spotted them too late."

"Yeah, our bad." Matt turned to them and Kim shook her head, exhaling. They took off their gloves, Jade undoing her bun and putting her hair in ponytail.

"I cleared out on time but Jade was almost seen. Good thing Misa is talkative, because if she were quiet like that guy with her we'd be screwed."

"Almost seen?" Mello asked.

"I've had a minor problem with the doors. I disappeared in time."

"Why would you do that anyway? We agreed to have Matt place the bugs-"

"We placed cameras too."

"How did you get the cameras that fast?" Matt turned to look at them.

"Trick is to know where to get them and have cash." Jade answered and he raised his eyebrow.

"I have a feeling we should know stuff like that, and not you." Kim laughed.

"And like I said in the morning, cameras are more useful. But we installed both. Unless that girl carries the notebook with her, we'll spot it." Jade looked at Mello through the rear mirror.

"If she even has the notebook." He added.

"We'll know that soon enough."

"What about the Task Force? Are we gonna keep an eye on them too?" Kim asked.

"It's impossible to get into their base and they never investigate out on the field. It's useless."

"And when will we go to Japan?"

"Yeah I wanted to ask that too." Matt added.

"We'll follow whoever goes there first."

"Fair enough." Jade put on her sunglasses. "Make a right on the next turn."

"What for?"

"We need to go and buy some food."

"Hallelujah!" Matt clapped and Kim chuckled.

* * *

Once Mello pulled on the parking lot of Walmart, Kim and Jade got out, Matt along with them.

"You want something Mells?" He leaned on the seat, staring in front.

"A pound of ice because you have to chill, gotcha." He went away without closing the doors.

"Can you at least close the doors?" Mello yelled after him and soon enough doors closed shut.

"Thank you." He breathed out.

"No problem." His eyes widened and he turned to the right, seeing Jade sitting on Matt's seat.

"What are you doing?"

"Now you and me will have a chat." Mello rolled his eyes, looking at the other direction.

"Matt has already annoyed the crap out of me, don't really have the nerves to listen to you too."

"Good, then it will be easier for me to get to the point."

"That point better be what happened five years ago."

"We were in a car accident, Penny got a heart attack, died next to me and unfortunately my reflexes were too slow because I didn't manage to grab the steering wheel in time and we crashed in to the tree." He looked at her, his eyes slightly widened. He didn't expect her _actually _answering him.

"Next time I woke up the engine was smoking, Penny was lying on the horn and all airbags were activated. My head hurt like hell so I grabbed Penny's bag, then woke up Kim and Idri. We took some of our stuff and left the scene. We were maybe a hundred meters away when the fire caught the entire car and I'm the only one who saw all that. And if you wonder why was I so cold-blooded about it, let's just say I had my training six years prior."

He kept quiet for a moment, processing everything she just told him.

"That doesn't explain why you didn't contact Roger. More so because you had Penny's phone. You had his number. You had L's number."

"L was already dead then."

"But it was a week later when Roger told us he died. How do you-"

"Fifth of November." She said and he raised his eyebrow. "That's the date of L's death. I didn't know until Penny told me."

"How did she know before Roger?" She shrugged. "I don't know. But it was fifth of November. We were in Wammy's then, oblivious to everything."

"Why didn't you call Roger?" She clicked her tongue. "It was my decision not to."

"No it wasn't." She looked at him. "It _was_ mine. I had a choice and I made it."

"Why did you choose that, then?"

"It's not yet time for me to disclose that. And you'll have to wait until we catch Kira if you want to find out."

"You cannot ask of me to work together with you and share information if you don't share something as crucial as this." She sighed.

"I would understand if we were strangers, but we're not. Whatever made you trust me five years ago will have to do the trick now as well."

He shook his head. "Besides, isn't catching Kira now the top priority?"

She got him this time. They came back from the dead without telling how and somehow Kira should still be on first place. As if. Not even Near thought Kira was more important.

But he wouldn't tell them that. At least not now.

"It is."

"Then let us work on this case together. Without you being an ass and ignoring our existence. And listening to our ideas, and theories. And-"

"I get it already."

"We will follow your lead." He looked at her.

"My lead?"

"Well yeah. You're the oldest." He rolled his eyes again and she laughed. "You've been an important player for a while now, it's only natural."

"Considering you still went and installed cameras I'd say following someone is not something that comes natural to you."

"I'll listen to your ideas but I cannot promise I'll do as you say." She shrugged. "Are you really surprised?"

"Not really, unfortunately."

"I'll also listen to what Near has to say. I'm open to suggestions. But like I said to you that day, I came to help you, not Near. I think of it as war on two fronts. We're both on the same side, but we'll attack from here, and Near and Idri from there."

"You talk too much but you talk sense." He said and she stopped, her lips slightly pursed. "I cannot decide whether that was an insult or a compliment."

"Fine. We're all in this together. Matt said you wouldn't leave even if I tell you to-"

"He's right."

"So, it's not like I have any choice." She smiled, turning to him and offering her hand.

"Partners?"

He shook her hand. "Don't ruin it now."

"No suicide missions, though. Just because we're L's successors doesn't mean we have to end up like him."

"I've had enough of those."

Then Kim and Matt opened the trunk, putting the bags in. "Aww, you made up!" Kim yelled and Jade and Mello let go of their hands. "Progress!"

"What will we eat?" Jade asked, crossing her hands.

"Well, we bought a shitload of junk food. Take your pick." Kim and Matt entered the back seat and Mello started the car.

"Oh yeah, by the way, we had no idea which chocolate you eat so we bought one from every-" Mello stopped, looking at them. "You gotta be kidding me."

"No, we're not. We really had no idea. I thought Matt will know but he didn't." Kim explained and Mello rolled his eyes, Jade bursting out laughing.

"Unbelievable you guys." She said, still laughing.

"You should have gone with them." Mello added.

"Nah, didn't want to be the third wheel."

"Jaaade!"

"Payback time, Kim!"

* * *

**Yo, I'm alive. Shocker, I know.**

**Anyway, I kinda failed on that 'one chapter per month' thingy. Well, since it's the beginning of the year I say I should go for it again. Wish me luck!**

**Alsooo, no one reviewed and like, seriously guys, I have to get some feedback. I have no idea if this is working out for you. And I have a feeling you might be confused with me changing POV's all the time, so I thought I'd clear that up. For girls I'll use first POV, no exception. I'll probably switch between Idri's and Jade for the most part, unless there's something I have to show that only Kim sees, like you saw in chapter six. For the guys though, I'll use third POV but I'm still experimenting with it. So that's why this talk between Jade and Mello is not through Jade's POV but mixed third with Mello's. I have no idea if I'm making any sense right now. If it's too confusing let me know. I'm not writing who's POV I'm using but it's usually visible through the context. (I think..)**

**Soo please please review and fingers crossed I'll keep up the tempo this time.**

**Also I won't be changing my name any time soon since no one told me is that a good idea or not, for now I'm still RunningThroughDimensions.**

**See ya!**


	9. Chapter 8

**Y'all: Fucking finally.**

**Me: I DID IT! YES! TOOK ME ONLY SIX MONTHS!**

**I'm terrible I know it. Anyway, enjoy in the chapter and I'll see you at the bottom.**

* * *

**5 years ago**

**France**

Jade shut down the laptop in her lap with a sigh, her eyes focusing on the wall opposite of her. She was angry but this time she didn't show it. She kept looking at the wall, her mind discarding anger and focusing on her next step.

"Jade? Can I ask you something?" Idri appeared in the room and Jade turned to look at her. "Yeah. What is it?" Idri sat next to her on the couch, looking back at the black room. "Kim's sleeping."

"Why aren't you sleeping?" Jade asked her and Idri shrugged. "I keep thinking how you cut your hair."

"Still? That was weeks ago."

"I understand why you cut your bangs. They were a nuisance. But..why hair? It was already pretty short, now it's even shorter."

"I got carried away." But Idri didn't buy it. Jade sighed.

"Changing your hairstyle is the easiest form of change. You just cut your hair and voilà. It's under your control."

"Is it?"

"Yeah, I think so. It always grows back."

"I want to cut it." Jade kept looking at Idri.

"Okay."

"It's a pity, isn't it?"

"It's insanely long, but as I said, it will grow back. You will have long hair again, over time."

"You want to cut your hair?" Kim entered the room, taking a seat next to Idri who nodded.

"How will we explain that much white hair in the bin?" Kim asked and Idri chuckled. Then Kim turned to Jade. "What are you doing with Penny's laptop?" That was the first thing Kim said directly to Jade in two months since the car crash.

"Umm..." Jade looked at the computer before making up her mind. "You two need to promise me something, and I'll promise something in return."

"What?" Idri asked.

"You are still with me after two months so that has to count for something-"

"I do not approve of your actions, and neither does Idri." Kim cut her.

"I didn't finish-"

"No, Jade. I will not continue to sit in this lousy motel doing nothing without asking why." Jade exhaled, her fingers tapping on the closed laptop.

"Fair enough. We will do something."

"What?"

"But!" Jade stopped her, index finger raised in the air. "You will not ask me why for a certain period."

"What?!" Kim exploded but Idri silenced her. "What are you planning, Jade?"

"First, we will try to find boys. If we don't succeed in that, we will go to America. And from that point onwards, everything we do is to get closer to Kira. The closer we are to Kira, the closer we will be to finding those three." Idri nodded, looking at Kim. "She's right. There's no way any of them will just walk away from the case, since it's L's last case."

"Tell me one thing first." Kim crossed her hands over chest. "Why have we kept quiet for two months instead of just doing that in the first place?"

"That is what you're not allowed to ask me until we catch Kira. And that's final. I promise I will tell you everything I know and why I've done what I've done, but after we catch Kira. So let's leave these two months behind and focus on things at hand." Kim continued to stare at Jade, seemingly debating what to do.

"Kim, if you do not trust me we cannot proceed. Idri?" Idri hastily nodded. "Okay. I trust you."

"Kim?"

"Okay, okay! As long as no one dies before you tell us that."

"Great. Then, we start with the search first. Kim, how good are you at decoding?"

"Decoding? Like computer stuff?" Kim furrowed her brows.

"Yes."

"Uhh, can't say I know it. Only what we did at Wammy's."

"Learn it."

"Huh?"

"I said, learn it." She stood up, carrying laptop with her. "You're more into technology. Besides, I don't plan to sit around and learn something, not in this situation right now."

"What will you do, then?"

"Depends on whether those three are still at Wammy's. Idri, what do you think?"

"I think they will be focusing on Kira as well. But independently."

"You think they left Wammy's?" Kim asked and Idri nodded. "If they haven't already they will eventually." Jade added, going to the bathroom and grabbing scissors.

"Come on Idri, now or never." Idri smiled, quickly going to the bathroom. And, in less than five minutes, Idri's hair was to her shoulders and she stared at herself in the mirror, seemingly in shock.

"As long as you don't regret it." Kim said and Jade smiled. "Why would she? Idri, you look cute as hell, period." Idri grinned. "You have to promise me something Jade."

"What?"

"You won't cut your hair until mine gets back to its old length." She held her pinky finger in the air and Jade smirked, doing the same.

"Deal."

* * *

**1st of December 2012.**

**Los Angeles**

"For real?" Matt asked me and I nodded. "But her hair was ultra long."

"Gone in a second." I shook my head, smile on my lips. We were supposed to monitor Task Force HQ but there wasn't any movement whatsoever and that got us bored.

Plus I was in a really good mood so I kept blabbing about various things. Matt was the first person after Jade and Idri that was close to me. So I talked and he listened.

"Idri's hair grew faster than Jade's though. Jade didn't care much about it."

"How much did she take on herself? Because I have this Mello vibe coming from her, and Mello vibe means that she had to do all sorts of things." I sighed.

"I don't know everything, and will probably never know. She left me home to watch Idri and tinker with computers, while she would go out and not return for hours. Idri was in her own world, gathering info about Kira, watching news, reading the papers. She wanted to help her. So did I, that's why I complied with it all. The thing is though, while Jade took care of us, she didn't take care of herself. One of the first things she did was the cellphone rule. If she calls you, you answer immediately and tell her exactly where you are. But if you call Jade on her phone she will answer after five hours and her location will always be 'on my way back'. So I had to take care of her, reminding her to eat, drink, sleep. That was one way of helping her. I also stirred them away from fast food. Oh, and I taught Idri how to cook."

"Really?" He laughed. "I cannot even picture that. I see only Near setting the kitchen on fire, or frying a couple of lego's." I burst out laughing. "No I assure you, she isn't a klutz. Nor is Jade when she puts some effort in it."

"So what else have you taught Idri?"

"When we couldn't sleep because we didn't know where Jade was, or just because, she would watch me play games on my PSP. So I bought her Nintendo DS and Professor Layton. You have no idea how calming it is to watch someone go through that game with ease."

"You got Idri hooked on games? I'm impressed." I grinned.

"In my head I was praising myself by how cleverly I calmed her down, but in fact, I was calming myself down by watching Idri play it. Jade never told me what was she doing and I only knew what I heard from Idri. Jade told her bits and pieces in case something happens to her and Idri has to act. At first I thought it was because Idri was smarter but it wasn't because of that. It was because Idri was never afraid for Jade. I would freak out and Idri would say 'She will come back, you'll see.' And she always did. I think it was because Jade knew she was doing something stupid and dangerous and needed someone to not tell her she'll die or whatever."

"Did she ever tell you what was she doing?" I looked up, thinking about it.

"I only know she did some deals with a chain of drug dealers to get a hold of certain info we would need in America. That's probably not half of the story though. I know she lied her way through very risky situations. She came up with all sorts of stories. For example, she got a gun because she said she needed to shoot her step father that was molesting her little sister."

"Wow. Did it work?"

"Yeah. They agreed to sell her a gun because of it."

"So where were you exactly?" He took a sip of his soda.

"We were in Versailles for three months, then we moved to Paris. Then after almost two years in Paris, Jade came back one day with plane tickets. New Orleans. I asked Idri if she knew about it and she nodded. That's when I finally flipped and told Jade I'm not going anywhere if she continues to keep me in the dark. From then on I knew as much as Idri. Which wasn't all, but it was something. We went from New Orleans to Seattle and then from Seattle to Sacramento by car. Somehow she learned to drive without our knowledge. And one night she stopped the car in the desert, woke me and Idri up and told me 'You need to learn how to drive Kim, get behind the wheel.'" Matt chuckled. "It's not the same as on Play Station."

"It's not." He laughed.

"It took me a while to realize that. I told her how I think I got a hang of it, and she said 'Good, drive us to Sacramento.' and went to sleep. Idri stayed awake to help me with the road-signs and whatnot, but I managed. She woke up once we arrived at the gas station in Sacramento, gave me a fake drivers license and said 'Congrats!'. I wanted to kill her." Matt laughed. "I love fake ID's. I never found out where Roger kept our papers and whatever so I left Wammy's without all that. When I got one for the first time it blew my mind." I chuckled. "I flipped."

"You seem to always do that."

"Flip out? Yeah. Someone had to. Anyway, in four months that we were in Sacramento Jade heard about someone in the mafia and she got into her head that was Mello."

"Really?"

"She heard from two arms dealers how a 'youngster' got in one Los Angeles mafia by promising to take down some other mafia that was well hidden from Kira. She didn't even hear the description of the person, nothing, just came home and said 'I think Mello's here'. I told her there's no way, even Idri told her she doesn't have any evidence that's him, but she wouldn't listen. She just kept going on and on how we need to get to Los Angeles, how she needs to find out which mafia, etcetera. And that's when she lost control of the situation and herself in the process. She kept being too noisy about it, to the point where she almost got shot because they thought she knows something about that mysterious person she convinced herself to be Mello." I exhaled, getting goosebumps simply from remembering how close it was for all of us to get in serious trouble.

"Sacramento became too dangerous and Idri and me told her we won't go to Los Angeles before she stops being targeted. But it didn't seem she was doing anything to get herself out of that mess so Idri and I took it on ourselves. I was the one driving and when Jade fell asleep we took a turn to San Francisco. Disabled the car and all, basically forcing her to stay in San Francisco. I have never seen her more angry than that day. But she didn't give up even then. She kept drinking those stupid Red Bull cans as if she lost her mind, gathering up info. She had to drop it when Idri found out she was having heart palpitations and told me about it. I think she realized she went over the top, but it was hard to let go of that information, and I think she never did."

"Kim...That really was Mello." I blinked. "Noo, no it wasn't."

"Yeah, it was. He really did get into the mafia by promising them he'll take down some boss not even Kira could. That's why they trusted him when he used them to get a hold of the notebook. Jade wasn't wrong." I put my hand over my mouth. "In fact, I'm impressed how she sniffed him out."

"But..she knew nothing else but that. Not even the looks! There wasn't anything to latch on to, but she did anyway." He shrugged. "Ask Mello if you don't believe me. I'm not saying you should have let her kill herself to find out where Mello was, but she wasn't wrong. You should tell her that."

"Are you kidding me? She barely got herself out of their reach and began to listen to us. I won't tell her she was right all along."

"She won't hate you for it, if that's what you're afraid of." There was a moment of silence, me still processing the fact that maybe I'll have to tell Jade that.

"Shit." I said, looking at him.

"Yep."

"Maybe I tell her one day. Maybe she already figured it out. Oh goddamit." I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Then what?" He asked me and I raised my eyebrow.

"You can't stop in the middle of your story, that'd be cruel." I smiled.

"We didn't let her go to Los Angeles for a couple of months, but stayed in San Francisco. When we finally went to Los Angeles Idri and me were pretty sure Near contacted the president so Jade helped us in that. In the end, we found Mello through Near."

"And how did you find me?"

"Trade secret." I said and he raised his eyebrow. "Through Near, and then through Mello. That's when we came to New York."

"Quite a ride." He commented and I nodded. "I sometimes wonder was I ever a proper teenager. Because I really can't tell anymore."

"Nah, forget about that. We weren't normal by default. You should be happy you spent your years with someone." I looked at him with regret.

"I'm sorry."

"For what? My own damn fault I didn't go with Mello immediately." He reached for his cigarettes.

"Why didn't you?"

"Because I thought he's insane. After a few months I became insane enough to do that myself. Except I didn't mess around with mafia and all that shit."

"What did you do?" He lit his cigarette.

"Credit card fraud." I smiled, rolling my eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Hey, that was the easiest thing to do." He blew more smoke. "When did you come to America?"

"Can't remember really. I think I grew bored by UK so I hopped on the plane. I landed at Boston. Freaked out at first." I laughed. "But your story is more interesting. Idri cooking and all that."

"Idri blossomed as soon as she was away from Wammy's. We didn't control her like Penny or Roger did. We kept her safe of course, reminded her to take her medicine. She needed it less and less, though. I went with her to museums when we were in Paris. She went to libraries and shops by herself if I was too busy. I think my fondest memories are from when the three of us would go thrift shopping. That was always fun." I smiled, playing with my bracelets.

"You didn't use much of Penny's money, did you?"

"From what Jade told me, Penny had a lot of accounts filled with money. Jade had to take it all out while she still had the chance and transfer it so it didn't become suspicious. We had money, a lot of money actually, we just didn't want anyone to notice us. I mean, three underage girls living alone in Paris? Better not to turn any heads, ever."

"Truth be told I'm kinda fascinated nothing happened to you. I mean, it's not a bad thing but the odds are pretty low for that." I nodded. "I know. I have no idea how we pulled that off. Probably Jade being on lookout always and me being paranoid."

Matt sighed, looking at the monitors and then extinguishing his cigarette. "Call them and say there's no movement at all. Only thing I've seen is food being delivered to them. Nothing else."

"Yeah sure. Maybe Misa proved to be of importance."

"I still don't understand why we had to be the ones monitoring Task Force."

"Jade doesn't want Mello to jeopardize himself more than he has to." He exhaled. "It's like Ultimate Stubborn Challenge with those two."

"More like all of us." I muttered, dialling Jade's number.

* * *

** SPK HQ**

**New York**

"Hello Rester!" I waved to the man on the screen and he nodded at me. "How is Japan?"

"Flashy." I smiled, putting my phone on the table to make sure Jade hears every word.

"So, what have you found on Light Yagami?" Near went straight to business while I sipped my tea. Gevanni was a man of many talents, tea making being one of them, and it was no wonder Near was very fond of him. He reminded me of Watari in a way.

"Light Yagami finished Too University but no one saw him after graduation. The NPA has all their recruits hold false position titles for fear they might be known as the staff of the NPA. Because of it we can't be 100% certain he's working for the police. He helped the police two times while he was still in high school and was given testimonials by the NPA. Taking into consideration that and the fact that his father was a policeman, I would say he is working for the police as well."

"Makes sense." I said and Near nodded.

"I also talked to a few of his classmates back in the day and I heard a couple of interesting stories."

"Carry on."

"Light Yagami got a hundred percent on the entrance exam and was asked to give a speech on the entrance ceremony. He wasn't the only one, though. One more student got a hundred percent and also gave a speech. That student was named Ryuuga Hideki, and coincidentally Ryuuga Hideki is the name of a singer that was very popular at the time. The students say they would often see Light and Ryuuga together."

Near and I shared a look.

"L?" I asked. "Could be. Are there-"

"There aren't any photos of Ryuuga Hideki." Rester cut him off and I raised my eyebrow.

"I also found out that Ryuuga Hideki met with Light Yagami and Misa Amane in June of 2007. After that, no one saw Hideki again. Since then both Light Yagami and Misa Amane went missing for several monthsl."

"Misa was very popular at the time, right? A teen idol. Did the media report how much was she missing?" I asked.

"She wasn't seen in public until August." Gevanni answered. "Thank you. I'll be the first one to say this but I'm pretty confident Ryuuga Hideki was L and the reason for Amane and Yagami disappearing was L confining them to make sure they are not Kira." I said and everyone got quiet. Near, however, nodded.

"He approached Yagami because his real name was hidden. Then Second Kira came into picture and L was threatened."

"Because Second Kira had Shinigami eyes."

"It all makes sense." Near said. My phone buzzed and I saw a message from Jade.

_Aizawa and Mogi went to Misa's apartment as soon as they landed in L.A. Mogi is with her for five days now._

"It lines up with the info how Mogi and Aizawa went to Misa right after they landed." I said.

"How do you know that?" Near asked me and I chuckled. "Well I do have a spy out there." He gave me a look.

"Misa is also Yagami's fiancée." Halle added.

"Now we only need proof." Near said, looking at my origami and twirling a lock of his hair.

Something wasn't right though. It makes sense Kira couldn't do killings undeterred from his position as Second L. He could use Misa, since they were apparently close, to kill for him and to get his orders into the world. He must have sensed us coming closer and transferred the notebook again. People are still dying even with Misa being monitored, plus Kira had to order the killing of Demegawa.

If those four confirm Misa is out of the picture, someone else got her notebook. Light Yagami is in too good of a position to stop being Kira. If he is the one L detained then that must mean he cleared himself out of suspicion once, and managed to kill L.

I looked at Near and found him already looking at me. "What do you think?" I asked.

"L got a hold of the notebook because he caught Higuchi. Third Kira. The fake rules were written inside and that's how Amane and Yagami got cleared of the suspicion." I nodded. "He gained advantage over L with fake rules and then killed him. Light Yagami is Kira." I finished.

"He transferred the notebook to someone else. There are plenty of people who would willingly obey his orders." Near said and Rester nodded.

"That would mean he must always be in the position to send orders. Right now he's not." I added.

My phone buzzed again.

_Demegawa got killed the same day he asked of people to donate money to build Kira a church. Kira didn't know about that until the show aired, and as soon as it did, Demegawa was killed. Misa and Light were both under surveillance then._

"Jade's right. Kira isn't in position to give orders to the new holder of the notebook, thus, this new Kira is doing this on his own. Prime example of that is executing Kira's spokesperson-"

"Demegawa." Near eyed my phone. "Tell them to be careful. Kira mustn't get a step ahead of us or we will end up like L. Also, they should keep in mind that Light Yagami is Kira at all times." I smiled. Jade answered a moment later.

_You keep safe on your end too._

"What's the next course of action, Near?"

"Find out who Fourth Kira is and use him to capture First Kira."

"Right now we can't do nothing else but wait for Kira's next move." I poured myself another cup. "Gevanni, how good are you at baking?"

* * *

**Los Angeles**

**With Jade and Mello**

Once my call with Idri ended I went back to watching Misa Amane. I listened to music and went over the info once again in my head. I only knew I have to tell Mello everything and then see what's his next course of action.

I was actually relieved once I saw Kim calling me. I was getting sick of sitting down and watching Misa and Mogi do absolutely nothing productive, or incriminating. Mello was a chair away from me, munching his tenth chocolate bar, staring at seemingly nothing and eavesdropping on their talk. I was surprised we're not brain dead already. Misa changed three outfits in span of five hours, while Mogi spent five hours cooking. His food didn't look half bad though, so I was getting a tiny bit hungry.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"_You alive at your end?"_

"Barely." I massaged my temple. "You?"

"_I'm bored out of my mind!"_ Matt yelled from afar and I chuckled. _"What he said."_

"Task Force is motionless?"

"_More like dead. Aizawa entered in, some other guy too, and they didn't come out. Matt said they had food delivered but that's all."_

"Yeah Misa is eating like a queen here as well. That Mogi guy has been cooking for hours now and it looks real good."

"_So we're all hungry? Great."_

"But seriously, nothing productive is going on. I listened to my whole music library while doing this. I hope she said something incriminating because Mello's been all focused-" Right on cue Mello took off his headphones and I looked at him. "And?"

"She's not Second Kira." He shook his head. "I don't believe she is."

"_So are we back on square one then?"_ Kim asked. "Wait a sec, Kim. Why do you think that?" I asked him.

"She's not.. someone of Kira calibre."

"The internet says her parents' murderer was killed by Kira and she's been very public about following him."

"She mentioned she praises Kira, but that's all. If she really was second Kira I don't think she would go around and mention that just like that, especially in front of a policeman who's working to catch him."

"Is it possible she's just pretending? She is an actress after all." He shook his head.

"I don't think she's acting. She talks in third person. Have you caught any sings that her body language might be a pretence?"

"Not really, no."

"I think she's not Second Kira anymore, if she ever was."

"Maybe she made a deal for Shinigami eyes to be more useful to Kira? If she really praised him she would want to help him."

"That would be a valid reason for Kira to be working with her."

"_Soo she's useless?"_ Kim said through the phone.

"I think so. Can we say for certain?" I looked at Mello. "We'll keep an eye on her for a little longer. Any progress at their end?"

"Nope, nothing is going on."

"Tell them to keep a close eye on the HQ. If second L is with them he might think SPK followed Aizawa to their headquarters. They might think of moving soon."

"_Well we ain't gonna miss it."_ Kim said._ "I'll call you later if there's any news."_ She hung up and I glanced one more time at the monitor only to see Misa eating. Then I stood up and went to fetch that file Kim dug up of Soichiro Yagami. From what Idri told me both Near and Mello would rather cut their arms off than ask each other a question about the case. If I'll have to put a stop to it, and I have to, I will make it seem as if it's all coincidental.

Either that or I'll smash Mello's phone so Halle cannot contact him anymore. Which would be very childish of me, but not all that surprising.

I sat back, calling Kim again.

"Oh yeah Kim, I forgot to ask you something."

_"What?"_

"Do you maybe know the name of Misa's fiancé? I bet it's someone special since she quit the industry because of him. I mean, come on, she ditched Hollywood for that guy!"

_"Uuh, Jade? What are you-"_

"Light? He's Japanese, right? Do you know something about him?"

_"I have no idea what you're talking about."_

"He's been missing since the graduation? Yeah but I heard a rumour that he's working for the police."

_"I give up."_ She exhaled.

"I know that the police issued fake position titles to police officers to protect them, Kim, doesn't mean he's not working for the police. Besides he helped police two times and got praised for it."

_"We want Domino's so when you're done with your little monologue you can go get us some."_

"Whatever, I'll look into him regardless. See ya." I hung up. Mello didn't look at me at all but I know he heard me.

"I'll go get some Domino's. Bye!"

If he understands only force, then force it is.

* * *

**Back to Kim and Matt**

"I have no idea what just happened but I think they'll come with the food soon." As if anyone could understand what's going on in Jade's brain.

"I sure hope so." I leaned on the couch, looking at Matt smoking again. I got used to it, believe it or not. Even though I wasn't happy he was doing it.

"When did you meet with Mello?" I thought of a question.

"I came to L.A. a couple of weeks before he started with his plan to get a hold of the notebook. At that time I was fed up with being by myself all the time. I think everyone would go nuts after years of that. So I made a habit of going to the clubs with my laptop and hack there. If you order booze every hour or so no one bats an eye on you charging your computer." I chuckled.

"One night I was doing my thing when I hear 'Matt?' I look up and I see Mello standing there. I'm like 'Yo Mells!' and he's like 'Christ you look the same. Except now you're a dork who also smokes.'" I burst out laughing.

"Couldn't argue with him on that. He told me he will make his first move against Kira soon. Asked me if I know what Near's been doing. I told him he's probably waiting for the right moment to scare Kira and Mello smiled and said 'I guess I'll give him an opportunity then.'"

"Wow."

"Yeah. I told him I can help since I wasn't doing anything with my life. He said he'll keep me in mind but doesn't want me involved in all that. But he did call once I became the only one he could trust."

"So, is Mello now different than Mello you met months ago?"

"In appearance maybe. He's still driven like he was then. Focused. He doesn't trust anyone though. I think he thinks he got in that explosion and all because he trusted the mafia too much even though he knew they weren't the brightest people. He contacted me because he knows me and trusts me. He keeps in contact with Near's agent but he doesn't trust her regardless of her helping him."

"And us?" He extinguished his cigarette.

"He does because he knows you. He knows you're not here to screw him up." I smiled.

"I just remembered how can I check if you're real and not my imagination. If you win in Mario Kart I'm in a coma somewhere." I laughed. "So I'm only real if I lose?"

"Before you did."

"Well I got better."

"Rematch then?" I grinned.

"Bring it on!"

* * *

**At one particular Domino's, somewhere in Los Angeles**

As soon as I exited Domino's with two steaming pizza boxes a car flared at me and I saw a well known blond behind the wheel. It seems he caught on quicker than I expected.

"Light Yagami is second L and therefore Kira, right?" He asked as soon as I entered. "Khm, yeah. So far that seems to be the case."

"Because he's Soichiro Yagami's son?"

"That is how we found out. Want me to tell you?" He didn't answer but started the car.

"Well I'll tell you what I know. Aizawa talked with Near and said L confined two people for fifty days, maybe more, in order to prove they're Kira. After fifty days he was pressured by the rest of the Task Force to release the two. L asked Soichiro Yagami to put on an act. He drove the two away, saying they're gonna get executed. He stopped the car and took out his gun, pointing it at Kira suspect, and said 'I'll kill you first Kira, and then I'll kill myself.'" He tapped his fingers on the wheel.

"Only Kira? He didn't say that to second Kira?"

"No. Soichiro didn't die and they thought that's a proof that the two suspects don't have Kira power."

"Back then they didn't know the killings are done by a notebook. Once L caught Higuchi he saw the fake rule and they got cleared of the suspicion." His eyes narrowed.

"Yep."

"So, if Kira suspect was Soichiro Yagami's son it would make sense for him to say something like that."

"That's what we all thought. Aizawa didn't realize he gave us an important clue."

"If he's Misa Amane's fiancé, and works for the police..then.."

I cleared my throat. "Near sent one of his agents to Japan last week to investigate Light Yagami. He solved two cases for police while he was still in highschool and got praised for it. He also got one hundred percent on the entrance exam of Too University. Along with one other guy. They both gave a speech on the entrance ceremony. Ex students said the other guy was called Ryuuga Hideki and was often seen with Light Yagami. In July of 2007. Hideki was seen with Light and Misa and then he was never seen again. Shortly after, Light and Misa disappeared for two months."

"L gave a speech?" He smiled a bit. "Wonder how that went." I looked out of the window.

"Did anyone ever tell you you talk too loud on the phone?" I rolled my eyes.

"I didn't leave Yagami's file on the table coincidentally." He glanced at me and I pursed my lips.

"See, you figured Ryuuga was L. You would figure Light was Kira, but I don't have patience to wait for you to figure things out."

"So what else did they deduce?"

"Just that. Idri is waiting for our confirmation that Misa Amane isn't important. They can't get close to Second L, and neither can we, so they'll probably target him through-"

"New Kira. We don't know who that is."

"No, we have nothing on him. Near also said to stay alert. If Kira gains even slightest advantage over us we will end up like L. Keep in mind Light Yagami is Kira and we should get on top eventually." Mello's phone buzzed and he looked at it before putting it back. "You're faster than Halle, I'll give you that." I rolled my eyes. "I also don't omit anything."

"I get it."

"Do you?" I glared at him. "I do." We grew quiet and the ringing finally stopped.

"I wasn't planning on rushing in to get the notebook any time soon. It's Near's turn. If he passes, Kira will make a move. We'll wait for that."

"Chessmaster." I muttered. He parked in front of the old building.

"We'll continue watching Misa. Matt and Kim will look out for the Task Force. Kira is bound to make a move soon."

"He'll have to. Whole world is competing to be Kira's new spokesperson."

"And you keep that line with Idri open." I smiled, leaving the car.

"You bet I will."

* * *

**Well I'm done promising things, since that doesn't work. It's just every time I get a spark of inspiration I know I have to consult manga to see if I'm making any sense and then I'm too lazy and yeah. Fuck me right.**

**More than half of this chapter was written on my phone, so that was fun. But I'm happy how it turned out, moving on in both the plot and the relationships. Yay!**

**Also, manga timeline says Misa was detained by L on May 28th but in manga Rester says she was seen with Light and L on the university in June. So..I don't know. Manga timeline says she reappeared in public in August. I'm going with the timeline and Rester just got wrong information from some ex student.**

**If you paid attention to the date in this chapter, it's 1st of December. Which basically means I'll have to cover Mello's birthday. Have no idea how I'll do that, but by then I'll think of something.**

**Once again, thanks to anyone who reviewed. Those who do review I actually message and ensure them I'm not dead and I'm getting to writing new chapter. Procrastination is a bitch.**

**I'll see y'all soon (hopefully).**


	10. Chapter 9

**To quote Whovians Initiates Tributes (who was so kind to review, thank you!):"...Soon it will be 2017 and I really hope I won't be graduating college by the time you finish the series."**

**By the time I finish this series I'll be done with highschool so I know the feeling. Even though I'm so slow I might as well say I'll be writing this until I finish college.**

**Or not if I get my shit together. Pray for me.**

* * *

**4th of December 2012.**

**New York**

"Near, you've been watching news for five hours now." I said, looking at the whitehaired boy sitting on the floor in front of the TV. He was constantly changing channels even though the sound was on mute.

"Demegawa was killed on 27th and Kira still hasn't given his verdict on the new spokesperson. It's getting suspicious." He simply said. All of the news channels he was watching had written news on the bottom of the screen, and by keeping the same tempo each had a different one.

"Kira is not in the position to choose a new spokesperson, we know that."

"New Kira is."

"I don't think he will decide that in Kira's stead."

"He'll have to. Second L will not risk doing anything we might interpret as giving orders. Sooner or later, New Kira will have to make a decision." I sighed, turning around and making my way to the HQ kitchen.

It was 5:18 in the morning and the HQ was completely empty. I filled the teapot with water and put it on the stove, standing in front of it and watching the water. There was something calming in watching the water boil. I always thought it seemed to take longer if I stare at it.

My mind was running over everything we knew about Kira, about the notebook, about shinigami's, about policemen working with Kira, about victims, about tactics that were already conducted. I went like that for a while, back and forth, taking facts from drawers in my mind, placing them on their place in the puzzle of this case, and then back in the drawer.

Bubbles appeared in the water and I removed the teapot, putting teabags in. My eyes caught sight of one of my paper cranes on the table so I grabbed it, undoing the crane creation until all that was left was a piece of paper with creases on it. I put it in my pocket, fishing out my phone. Kim was the one who sewed pockets on all my dresses that didn't have them. I didn't understand the need for a dress if it didn't have pockets on it.

I looked at numbers saved in my phone. Jade gave me Matt's and Mello's number, just in case anything happens. With the two of them, the only one who was missing was Near. But he didn't have a phone and I doubted I'll ever need to contact him on one. Right now that would be useful though, I could text him if he wants milk in his tea, and if he does, how much.

Oh, but Gevanni did bring him tea once. I remembered it now. I just have to recreate the colour.

I went to the fridge but there was no milk. Only a note saying 'Gevanni buy more milk'.

I sighed and took my jacket, entering the security code and exiting the HQ. I hid my hair with the hood of my jacket, stepping out in the cold.

The first time I came to this hideout was when Near threw L's money from their old hideout. Jade was the one driving and we both knew the SPK will come to the new one now that Kira is directly threatening them. She dropped me off at the corner before speeding off back to the old hideout in order to meet with Mello and I entered the building with Kim's help, even though that stalled her a bit in her hacking of Matt's computer.

I know I saw a 24h store at the same corner, and my memory never lied.

I entered the store and the old woman behind the counter gave me a look, her hand backing off from the counter as she observed me. She instantly calmed down as she saw my face, and went back to her magazine.

I grabbed milk and a package of biscuits before going to the cashier.

"Newspapers?" Woman proposed and I shook my head. "I know the news already."

"You should remove your hood, you have a pretty face." So that's what scared her.

"It's cold outside." She nodded in understanding, returning me the change.

Cold air didn't bother me all that much in fact, but 5 in the morning wasn't the time for a walk so I went back immediately. After inputting the code the security doors opened and I walked in the warm HQ, only to hear faint "Idri?" and then a pair of footsteps coming to the kitchen.

I pulled my hood down, raising my eyebrow at Near who peeked into the kitchen. "It's her Gevanni, you can stop with the search."

"What?" I asked as Near took off his bluetooth. "What search?"

"I couldn't find you so I called Gevanni and asked him to search for you." I pursed my lips. "I went to the store."

"You could have told me."

"I didn't think you would notice it. You were busy looking at the TV." I poured milk into the cups of tea. "Here you go."

"You said you won't walk out of here if I take off your handcuffs." I stopped drinking tea, indeed remembering I've said that.

"It was just to go to the store." He made me feel guilty for it. "Look, if you've had a phone you could have called me to see where I was and then you wouldn't have needed to trouble Gevanni."

"You didn't give me your number."

"Huh?"

"There is a phone here, but I don't know your number." I took the paper from my pocket, scribbling down my number with a pen.

"Here you go." He looked at the paper briefly before giving it back. I smiled, making it back into a paper crane.

"It's useless watching all those channels on only one TV. Buy more TV's and have every play different news station." He reached for his bluetooth.

"Oh give poor Gevanni a break. He'll come in at eight and you can tell him then." He left the bluetooth on the table, going back to the room. I took the package of biscuits and my tea, going to sit next to him in front of the TV. He wasn't changing channels any more so we sat there in silence, me munching biscuits and sipping tea.

"You're not afraid of going out alone?" He asked me all of a sudden. I glanced at him.

"No." He gave me a look and I knew he wanted a more detailed answer. "I've become more independent outside of Wammy's. In Paris I went to libraries and museums by myself. Stores as well. Jade was rarely home and Kim was mostly busy with computers. I didn't have Lego's or puzzles like I did in Wammy's. It's not like I couldn't buy them but it was easier to not have many possessions. So I had to keep myself occupied differently."

"By observing people." He said and I smiled. "Right. That's what we always did in Wammy's when we weren't in the playroom. Back then it was easier. Now I had to go out." I took another biscuit. "I don't think we would have been afraid of the outside world if they hadn't made us afraid of it."

"You mean Roger and Penny?"

"Yes."

"Perhaps."

"Don't you think being alone is worse than doing things that scare you but doing them with someone?" He twirled the lock of his hair.

"I've been alone long enough to know the answer." I tilted my head, looking at him.

"I won't be going out any time soon. Kira is out there." He added. I had a feeling he'd say that.

"We'll take care of Kira. Besides, you're not the one taking the biggest risk." He knew who I was talking about. He went to fetch the puzzle box, coming back and building the picture in front of my eyes.

"Do you remember how I once said I hate my photographic memory because I remember everything, even things I don't want to remember because they make me sad?"

"I do."

"Well, if I manipulate it I can remember good things in perfect detail. Then my memory has a better use. I replay the moment when I was really happy." He remained quiet and I sighed, taking empty teacups and going back to the kitchen.

Once I came back I laid on the floor, pillow under my head.

"What is your fondest memory?" He asked and I smiled.

"I'll tell you only if you tell me yours afterwards." He nodded. "Well I really enjoyed all our meals together. There was always something happening at our table, whether it was Jade and Mello arguing or Kim and Matt excited about a game. Also how we made that giant castle in the playroom. I really liked that."

"Mine would be when we all went to the abandoned house next to Wammy's." I looked at him. "Right, I forgot about that." I thought about it. "So your favourite memory is when we went outside. Funny if you think about it."

"We were all together, exploring something unknown."

"Like a team." I added. "You're right, that was fun." I sat up, looking at the clock on the wall. "I think Gevanni will come soon since you woke him up. I'll make breakfast then." Near looked at me as I went back to the kitchen, opening cupboards. "Hm, we don't have pancake mix." I thought out loud.

"Don't go to the store again." I looked at Near who followed me to the kitchen, sitting by the table with his toys.

"Then I'll have to think of something else." In the end I settled on French toast.

"Have you been in contact with Jade?" He asked as I prepared the ingredients. "Not since the 1st." I shook my head. "If she's not calling me then that means there's nothing happening at their end."

"We are all waiting for the new spokesperson."

"Yes, I think so. I do wonder what they are doing."

"Watching the news." I chuckled.

"I have a feeling it's not that simple."

* * *

**Los Angeles**

"Psst, Kim!" I heard from the outside of the bedroom just as I turned my laptop off. I thought I had imagined it but then the sound repeated. I thought it was Jade because she went to the bathroom a second ago but upon opening the doors I saw Matt.

"Matt? What are you-"

"Good, you're not sleeping."

"Um, almost. What? Did something happen?"

"I'm hungry." He said and I blinked. "Huh?" Right on cue I heard his stomach growling. He pointed at it and I chuckled. "What he said. Come on."

"Come where? You're the one who's hungry, what's this have to do with me?"

"Just come with me." I sighed, but grabbed my jacket, quickly putting my shoes. He was waiting for me in front of the car. As soon as he saw me he extinguished his cigarette and circled around the car, sitting on the passenger seat.

"Keys are in the ignition." I sat behind the wheel, looking at him. "Why am I the one driving?"

"Because."

"Are you drunk?"

"No. Hungry."

"Then what the hell?"

"I'll tell you once you start the car." I started the car and he put his goggles on. "To McDonalds!" He said excitedly.

"You owe me an explanation." I took a right turn. "If you want me to be a taxi driver I'll have to charge you."

"Rude. What's wrong with 3am McDonalds?"

"Well I'm not hungry."

"You don't have to be hungry to have room for McDonalds." I rolled my eyes.

"So?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I just told you I wanted you to go with me to McDonalds?"

"No." He sighed.

"There's this guy that works on drive-in that hates me because last time I was there taking ice-cream when Mello called me and I had to go real fast so I kinda threw the ice-cream back in his face." Good thing we were at the red light because I burst out laughing.

"Yeah so, I can't exactly show my face again."

"That is the most absurd thing I've ever heard." I managed to mutter between fits of laughter.

"Ha ha. Green light, Kim." I continued on ahead, still laughing a bit.

"How's that even possible?"

"I don't know. I only saw his ice-cream covered face in the rear mirror. I heard him yelling at me but really I should have been the one yelling since I wanted that ice-cream. I even paid for it."

"So are we going there for another ice-cream?"

"No, I'm actually hungry right now so I'll take all that I can." I sighed but took a turn for the drive-in. "Okay so what do you want?"

"Two cheeseburgers, one McChicken, big fries, and strawberry shake." I looked at him. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"I told you I'm hungry. I'm not fucking around when it comes to McDonalds." I chuckled, leaning a bit out of the window and saying the order.

"Anything else?" The voice from the speaker asked me. I pursed my lips.

"Um, one more strawberry shake actually. That'd be all." Since I'm already here I might as well enjoy myself.

"See, I knew you would take something."

"I didn't drink that for a while." I shrugged, paying. Matt was fumbling with the radio as I went to the last window. The man working there leaned, giving me a bag of food which I passed to Matt immediately. He then squinted, looking at Matt sitting behind me but as he opened his mouth to say something I was already out of the McDonalds parking lot.

"I see you also called me so you could eat all that and not have to worry about driving." I glanced at him.

"Precisely. If I had driven myself all this would be cold by the time I came back." I smiled, seeing a red light on the command board from the corner of my eye. "I think we're low on gas." I said, taking a turn in the opposite direction of the house.

I can't say I actually doubted Matt would eat all that, but he ate all of it by the time we came to the gas station. And that took us less than five minutes. He was just finishing his shake when I looked at him as we waited for a green light. "Where do you store all that?"

"I have a big capacity. I don't eat for a day and then I eat a whole cow."

"Literally." I parked at the gas station and exited the car. But as I made my way to the rear of the car Matt suddenly exited the car. "Kim, wait!" I sighed. "What, you want me to take the trash?" It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.

"No, the red light is not for the gas, it's for the oil."

"Oil?" I raised my brow.

"Yeah. It didn't make sense the car is already low on gas when I was at the gas station in the morning." He went to the trunk. "I just saw it blinking so I didn't bother to check."

"No matter, we can just fill it up here." He opened the trunk and the contents of it made me turn around in case anyone's looking.

"Are you out of your mind?" I asked, my voice lower than usual. "Why do you have all this in the trunk?" I mean, it's not like normal people have a set for breaking in just lying there in the trunk of the car. Plus computer equipment that is more or less illegal. I mean, GPS tracking systems, bugs, cameras...good thing it was middle of the night.

"What? Where else would I keep it?" He rummaged through, looking for oil. "What if someone sees it?"

"Like who?"

"FBI." He looked at me with eyebrow raised. "Why would FBI be looking at my car?"

"Because you have connections to mafia." I made a 'duuh' face.

"Well no one looked at my car before, and certainly won't any time soon." He was completely chilled about it while I kept looking around us.

"Will you relax already?" I threw my hands in the air, going back to my seat and taking my strawberry shake.

"All of you are out of your goddamn mind." I came back just in time to see him open a secret compartment on the side and reveal a black gun.

"You have a gun?!" I nearly yelled. Then I quickly put a hand over my mouth, again looking around myself.

"Kim, we're in America. Everyone has a gun." He didn't even blink. "Well, it turns out I don't have oil. We'll have to buy it." He closed the trunk, putting hands on my shoulders as I continued to slurp my shake in order to calm down. "I haven't used it yet and I won't, unless I have a very good reason."

"And what would that be?" He shrugged. "One day when I won't be able to run away. So, relax. You know how to hack."

"So?"

"No that definitely isn't illegal." I made a face. "Okay, forget I said that. Let's go to the store." He took his hands off and I only kept thinking how he's so tall and grown up and my face became hotter, even though I was drinking cold shake.

Great, I was blushing like an idiot again.

I went after him. "I'm not sure they have the oil we need." He muttered, looking at the shelf. "Does it make a difference?"

"Well it depends on viscosity and additives and-" I gave him a look. He laughed. "It's less complicated than you may think."

"Right. I'm going back to the car. The guy at the cashier isn't too happy about me drinking shake in here." He chuckled.

I waited for him by the bonnet. "Look, it's really easy to check whether you're low on oil." He opened it, moving the metal lever upwards to secure the hood. "You need to find the dipstick." I burst out laughing. "Why does everyone always laugh on that?"

"The dipstick?" I repeated.

"Yes, here it is brightly coloured, T-shaped-Kim, pay attention." He smiled as I once again lost it. "Okay, I'll definitely remember this one. So, once I locate the dipstick, then what?" I tried not to laugh too much.

"I'll be quick. You pull it out, you wipe it clean, then you insert it again and check for the markings. There are engravings on the dipstick and oil needs to be between them. Got it?"

"Yeah."

"Now, you'll need to find the oil filler cap. It's usually marked, see here." He leaned closer to me, showing me a cap that said OIL. "Don't pour into other caps, because then you fucked up big time."

"Got it."

"Basically you pour in oil little by little, checking the dipstick every now and then to make sure you don't overfill it. Overfilling is bad for the engine."

"So don't overfill it if you don't want to fuck it up." He nodded.

"Yeah. Do you maybe have a tissue?"

"No, sorry."

"There goes my only clean shirt." He muttered and I figured he'd wipe that oil on his shirt.

"Oh I'll just go buy some. Wait here." I went back to the store. I could see the man narrowing his eyes at me but as soon as I threw my empty shake in the trash outside he put on a smile. It kinda creeped me out.

It took me less than a minute to go to the store and back. I handed the tissue to Matt.

"Thanks. Now that you now theory, I'll show you practice." He was fast but I managed to catch up with everything he was doing. It was easier since he explained it to me beforehand.

"Where did you get the gun?" I asked him in between.

"Mello gave me. It was around that time I met with him. Before all this was set in motion."

"I do believe you have no intention of using it." He glanced at me. "Why?"

"Then you wouldn't keep it in the trunk."

"I guess."

"Though, if we ever go to Japan you won't be able to take it with you."

"I know. You can't take a gun on the plane."

"That too, but it's illegal to carry arms in Japan."

"It's illegal to be killing people but some jerk is doing that regardless." I nodded. "And we're using illegal methods to catch him."

"All is fair in love and war."

"You got that right." He was finally done with the oil thing so I went back to the car.

"You still hungry or can I drive back?" I asked as I started the engine.

"What time is it?"

"Close to 4am."

"Too early for breakfast."

"You've gotta be kidding me." He chuckled. "I'm just messing with you. We can go back. I can get three hours of sleep and then go get donuts."

"I would like pink frosted sprinkled donuts, thank you very much." He grinned.

"You can take it yourself, I'm waking you up to drive again."

"Oh come on."

"It's easier if I don't have to drive all the time." I sighed but corner of my lips curled in a smile.

* * *

**Meanwhile with Jade**

I couldn't sleep. It didn't have anything to do with Kim typing in the same room I was trying to sleep in. I got used to it over the years. It was something else and fuck me if I knew the reason.

In the end I stood up and went to the bathroom, splashing my face with warm water. I sighed, looking at bags under my eyes. My looks told me I should sleep more but my scumbag brain wouldn't let me.

I exited the bathroom and upon returning back to the room I found it empty. I raised my eyebrow and went to the living room. Matt's computer was on the coffee table, ashtray full of cigarette butts next to it, but no sign of Matt.

I waved it all off, going back to bed. But the pillow somehow made me feel like I'm lying on a cement block so I gave up, putting on my black hoodie and going to the kitchen.

"I finally have time to have a decent goodnight sleep and then I'm unable. Un-fucking-believable." I muttered to myself, opening the fridge and then smiling in delight.

Ice-cream!

God bless Kim.

It was cookie-dough flavour so I took a spoon and sat on the counter and began eating it, staring at the fridge in front of me. After a couple of minutes of doing that I finally noticed something in the corner of my eye.

A coffee pot. A full coffee pot.

It surprised me so much I stopped the spoon halfway to my mouth, looking at brown fluid in transparent pot. Coffee? Here? Under Kim's nose?

Wait a goddamn minute, coffee right under my nose? What the hell?

Well it wasn't me. Kim doesn't drink it and only thing I've seen Matt drink was either cola or red bull. No, this is Mello's doing. He is the only one Kim wouldn't sanction for such a thing. He gave off this vibe of silent, unquestioned authority, and everyone felt it. Though it's not like he didn't have that authority before. It wasn't as silent as it was now, but he had it.

I heard a pair of footsteps coming closer to the living room. They stopped before taking a turn to the kitchen, and then they stopped again at the entrance. I knew who it was without turning my head.

"Didn't know Matt went to sleep." Speaking of the devil...

"Don't think he is. Kim disappeared somewhere so unless she's in his room, which I think is highly unlikely to happen for another week or so, they've gone out." I put another spoonful of ice-cream into my mouth, not breaking my stare from the fridge in front. "Pretty sure they went for some food." I said with full mouth. He passed by me, going to the coffee pot.

"Did Kim tell you anything regarding the coffee?" I asked him just in case.

"No. She gave me a look, but that'd be all."

"I mean it is tempting. Full coffee pot, unsupervised." I clicked my tongue.

"Yet you're eating ice-cream in the middle of the night." He said as he poured himself another full mug.

"Can't sleep. Drinking coffee right now won't benefit me. However, if I continue to be unable to sleep until morning I'll rethink it." I looked at him. He was leaning on the counter next to the sink, looking at me. I moved my stare away.

"You aren't eating chocolate ice-cream."

"Nope."

"Why?"

"There was only cookie dough flavour." I shrugged.

"As a matter of fact, I haven't seen you eat chocolate at all. Ever since you came back." I shrugged yet again.

"I don't have a craving."

"For how long?"

"For years now." I looked at him. "Why? Is it important?"

"Depends on the reason."

"I already told you the reason." He sipped his coffee.

"Why mafia?" I asked with full mouth. "If you don't mind me asking." I added quickly.

"Tell me one person who isn't controlling the police right now. Near can control it, Second L, even Kira. Who hates Kira more than we do? The very criminals he's killing. The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"Yeah something like that. But still, you have to find mafia, you have to enter it, you have to climb your way to the top." I licked my lips with my cold tongue. "You did it, obviously, so I'm wondering how."

"Matt told me already." I raised my eyebrow. "I mean, Kim told him and then he told me."

"What are you talking about?"

"The fact that you found me." I tapped the spoon on the container before smiling. "Did she now?"

"He told her you were right and she barely believed him."

"More than she believed me." I muttered.

"How did you know that was me?"

"Hunch."

"You had to have something." I shook my head. "Nothing. I tried both with bribes and with threats to get my hands on more evidence. Threats nearly got me killed. But I was close. I would have gotten my hands on it if it weren't for...tch...it's over and done now." I looked at half of the empty ice-cream container. "I just heard about some youngster promising to get the head of some mafia boss not even Kira could kill. And I thought how that sounds like something only you'd had the confidence to say. I knew it all along. Doesn't really surprise me that I've been right." I looked at him only to find him still staring at me.

"That doesn't answer my question." I said.

"What would you have done?"

"If I had succeeded?" He nodded.

"Didn't think that far. Would probably be disappointed by seeing how the actual mafia looks like. Have a feeling it's not like in The Godfather." I sighed. "I bet it would be harder to persuade you to work with us. Because I would just appear out of the blue and mess up your plans."

"And right now you aren't?" I smiled at him. "Ha ha." I've had enough of ice-cream so I put the lid on. "It's for the better you didn't find me then." He said.

"I think so too. I would have acted too impulsive. Kim and Idri still needed me then." I jumped down from the counter, putting the ice-cream back in the fridge. "Though this could be used to my advantage." I smirked. "Now they both owe me big time for not trusting in my judgment." My smirk got wider. "You'll just use it for coffee." I looked at him. "Nah. Won't use it for something so trivial." I yawned. "Anyway, any reports on Kira's new spokesperson?"

"Not at the moment."

"Watching TV nowadays is unbearable. Every station is competing to be Kira's new spokesperson."

"I told you we need to wait. Near is doing the same thing."

"I know, I know. It's just so boring." I sat back on the counter. "It's the right time to have plenty of sleep but of course that isn't the case." I looked at him but he was silent, still staring at me. I couldn't decide whether that was making me nervous or annoyed.

"Why did Matt tell you that?"

"To make sure I'm not underestimating you."

"Well, are you?"

"No."

"And before?"

"No."

"Well he probably thought you did since you wanted us gone."

"That had nothing to do with your skills." I narrowed my eyes. "Irrational of you to not use the skills we offer, regardless of other things."

"Let's not get started on irrational things." He sipped his coffee and I tried not to roll my eyes.

"What do you think is the biggest setback in this case?" He asked me all of a sudden and I furrowed my brows.

"Hm. Probably the fact that we can't get close to Second L to observe him. It's easier to make him slip in his role if we observe him psychologically." He nodded. "We can't find a way to do that, though." I added quickly. "It would be suicide."

"I know."

"Why are you asking me that?"

"No particular reason."

"Yeah right." I yawned yet again.

"You should go to sleep." He suggested and I jumped down. "Don't think I'll forget about this. You always have something in plan."

"You'll find out in due time." I pointed at him. "You bet. Good night."

"Night."

* * *

**5th of December**

My phone rang as the four of us stared at the TV and the picture of Kira's new spokesperson.

"Jade, are you-"

"Yeah Idri, we've all seen it. Kiyomi Takada of NHN." Kim looked at me from the couch before nudging Matt that was sitting next to her. "Can you pass me my laptop?" He nodded.

"Any thoughts?" I asked Idri.

"She seems calm and collected. We're still looking into her."

"Likewise. I'll call you later then." I hung up.

"She is very popular news anchor. She leads 6 o'clock news." Kim added.

"Completely different persona than Demegawa." I muttered. "Precisely. But this is because this time Kira chose someone who suited him better." Mello next to me spoke and I looked at him.

"You think she's somehow connected to Second L and therefore Kira?"

"There's a possibility."

"What if Misa was the one who chose her?" Kim suggested.

"We haven't been checking in on her lately, ever since that tall guy moved out of her apartment." Matt added.

"Mogi. But there was no change with or without Mogi being there with her. Criminals were still dying." I said.

"She's not Kira any more, if she ever was." I nodded. Mello had a point.

"Yeah but remember how L detained her? That was rough. She didn't speak then, she won't slip up now." Kim also had a point.

"Just in case we should check what the Task Force is doing." Mello said.

"I'll check on Misa then." I offered.

"But if we were to research that Takada girl, that means we have to go to Japan." Matt said and Kim smiled.

"We knew that from the beginning. Okay, let's say we'll be on our way to Japan in two days tops." Everyone seemed to agree with me.

"Japan is Kira's turf. We should see what Task Force is planning while we're still here and have the upper hand." Mello said as I went to grab my jacket. He took the car keys from the table. Matt stood up. "My equipment is still there on the lookout." And in a second the three of us were already ready to leave.

"Yo Kim, make sure we have plane tickets ready!" I yelled.

"Leave it to me."

* * *

**Happy New Year, guys! Thanks for sticking with me for so long. And for reading this. And for reviewing. Love y'all!**


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